Photo by Lorna Sim.
With the enigmatic title referencing a line from a Walt Whitman poem and only a short uninformative blurb about the show, it was hard to know what to expect from ‘a modern love story’, ‘weaving melodic tales and featuring passionate choreography’. It was probably best that I was so lacking in information about the performance as ultimately, the show did not disappoint.
Five piece group, Sidney Creswick, are relative newcomers onto the Canberra music scene. Regardless, they have already won the Australian Campus Band Competition award for the ACT region and performed regularly at a range of gigs since 2011. Their latest collaboration with Tuggeranong based youth arts troupe Fresh Funk has resulted in a soulful, creative adaptation that is stunning in its musical diversity and breathless in its emotiveness.
From the first song, it would be easy to be lulled into the impression that Sidney Creswick are nothing more than a pop band, belting out soothing, comfortable melodies lead by the strong vocal abilities of frontman Liam Budge. As the various dancers of Fresh Funk are introduced onto the stage, flailing their bodies romantically in contemporary dance moves, the performance starts off in an uncontroversial fashion.
However, when the keyboard player Tom Sly picks up a saxophone and starts the next piece with a soulful prelude, the tempo of the scene immediately changes and we are given our first insight into how incredibly diverse Sidney Creswick’s repertoire is. Flanked on one side of the stage by a string quartet and on the other with a double bass wielded by Arlene Fletcher, the array of instruments work effortlessly together to create a unique sound covering a vast range of genres.
As some rockier songs in the mix reach almost head banging pitch the thrashing of the electric guitar by Matt Dixon takes centre stage as the eclectic mix keeps the dancers on their feet both centre stage in front of the band and in eerie ambient lighting as the performance continues behind the band. The steady beats of Simeon Staker keep the music grounded though and the performance soon unwinds back to a more subtle flow, relapsing almost into a recitation of poetry at some points.
While the performance is touted as a modern love story, the choreography is disparate and does not convey the story consistently throughout the piece. There are some pivotal moments of intense dance, one in particular involving a dramatic love triangle. However, the patchiness of the dance movements and inconsistencies between the dancers are unlikely to leave an indelible impression.
The young melodic masters of Sidney Creswick are definitively a force to keep an eye out for in the future. Their wide ranging musical abilities complemented by a sense of innovation in arranging collaborations with performance artists and classical violinists make the band a unique insurgence onto the local music scene. Winning praise from previous sources for their seamless ability to cross genres and swath the audience in a skin-tingling catharsis, no doubt this band will have more surprises to offer as they continue their ever escalating ascent to stardom.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
The Street Theatre, Canberra1-2 November
