Dave Hunter
Act: The Fruit Tree Foundation
Venue: ABC
Night: Music Like A Vitamin, 02/10/10
Now in its fourth year, the Music Like A Vitamin project has yet again proved to be an extremely worthwhile and rewarding project for everyone concerned. Tackling the often thorny issues of mental health head on has become somewhat of an annual event, allowing everyone to remember what this evening is in aid of.
Ever since the inaugural ‘Music Like A Vitamin’ gig, it has always been a pleasure to witness a talented bunch of musicians perform together on stage but until this year there was no end product of a much anticipated LP which thankfully came with this years performance. Under a collective name, The Fruit Tree Foundation’s ‘First Edition’ is not officially released until next year but was on-sale this evening and despite such a small recording time spent together in Perth it already sounds like the spontaneity between the indie and folk collective has been captured perfectly.
Unfortunately, James Yorkston and Sparrow and the workshop’s Jill O’Sullivan could not be in attendance to complete the full line up so tonight’s ‘warm up’ solo acts were the captain’s themselves, Rod Jones and Emma Pollock. Pollock proves to be as comfortable onstage as Alan Rickman is playing a villain onset and Rod Jones even squeezed in an excellent re-worked moody cover of ‘Rhythm is Dancer’ by Snap! Playing a full set of songs that 90% of the audience has never heard was always going to be risky but in the hands of professionals, they pulled it off with aplomb. Particular highlights were raunchy opener ‘I Forgot to Fall’ with Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison, an excellent duo performance between Karine Polwart and Twilight Sad’s James Graham on ‘Fall Arch’. Tenacious closing number ‘Favourite Son’ also enabled the full cast to close out the set on a high, capping a very entertaining evening.
Full Line up: James Graham, Scott Hutchison, Rod Jones, Jill O’Sullivan, Emma Pollock, Karine Polwart, Jenny Reeve, Alasdair Roberts, James Yorkston, Graeme Smile and Jonny Scott
For those of you on tenterhooks waiting for the album to be released next year, the fruit tree foundation’s website includes two free downloads to sink your ears into…
http://www.fruittreefoundation.com/
