A long time ago, the only wise thing a very unwise person said was “Revolutionize your field and, short of that, convince others that is what you’re doing”, This is a rough paraphrase, of course; however, the point is Night Fruit don’t need to convince too hard.
On Dark Horse, their follow up to their debut Triangles EP, they blend a shoegaze dreaminess with sinister post-apocalyptic undertones, due to the otherworldy-ness of lead singer Amanda Dellevigne’s voice. It is a voice that rises and falls dreamy and distant and rides Jonathan Gill’s guitar like a stripper on a pole — all hips and swinging around. Commanding is one word to use. The guitar is reverby, and how. Jon often looks like he’s play-acting rockstar when he’s on stage, but it all comes down to the fact that he loves to entertain. He’s a greater guitar player for it too; this man isn’t afraid to throw every iota of emotion into a set or onto a record. Luke Sullivan’s tight drumming betrays his disaffected demeanor; he’s having fun no matter how taciturn the expression on his face.
The title track undulates out of the gate with dreamy riffing from Gill’s end and builds from there on out with Dellevigne’s voice, that enchanting dreamscape voice. Paper Thin is more of a straight forward rock song that includes some lovely building and breaking down, the bridge for this song was my favorite on the album. Bittersweet finishes this offering with some poppy goodness, a great bouncy beat, and some sing-a-long quality lyrics. Overall, a great showing from this excellent gang of bandits.
Night Fruit shows have a tendency to be an awfully good time and you should check them out. These smooth operators can be seen in the near future on:
Jan 10 at TT the Bear’s with Slowdim and You Can Be A Wesley
Feb 24 at O’Briens with Lymbyc Systym
–Chris Saenz