Posted by Danni Le Toullec on September 30, 2010
Sydneysiders braved the sudden rainstorm on Wednesday night to see Gypsy & The Cat perform at The Oxford Art Factory. The audience soon forgot the dismal weather as beautifully crafted harmonies and Xavier Bacash’s impressive vocal range filled the air. Jumping between the keyboard, guitar and vocals, Lionel Towers made up the other half of the Melbourne Duo, who only started writing together in August of 2008.
From the opening bars of ‘Time to Wander", it’s clear why the song was chosen for the Kitsune Maison 9 compilation. Xavier paused with a cheeky grin to ask the crowd “Do you like this song?” Judging by the amount of punters jumping around, I’d say that was a big fat, 'Yes'.
Jessica Mauboy even took some time away from recording with Snoop Dogg to pop backstage at OAF to say hello.
Returning to the stage for their encore, ‘Jona Vark’ proved to be another crowd pleaser. It will be amazing to see the boys belt it out among their other anthemic songs (‘Breakaway’ and ‘Til Tomorrow’) this Sunday in front of a much larger mass of people at Parklife in Sydney. It would be incredible to hear them rework ‘Bette Davis Eyes’… but alas, I digress.
This is fresh, upbeat, summer music personified. With just the right portions of pop and synth, Gypsy & The Cat are putting together their debut in London, a long way from the small garage studio where they started their journey. They will be working with two industry producers – Rich Costey and David Fridmann – who have lent their Midas touch to bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Muse, MGMT and the Flaming Lips.
Their contemporary retro sound is so catchy even their drummer, John Jenkins aka Human Drum Machine, was singing along. Previously occupying the Musical Director chair for Lily Allen’s tour, John is now working with Gypsy and The Cat to develop their live show.
For you Melbourne folk, they will be hitting Parklife on Saturday 2 October, continuing their tour around Australia prior to kicking off their UK tour mid-October. For dates check out their myspace.
Their debut album will be out on November 12th.
gypsy and the cat, xavier bacash, lionel towers, oxford art factory, john jenkins, human drum machine