written by Chris Famiton

In this day and age pop music is somewhat of a dirty word now that it has been acquired and bastardised by hip hop, r&b and dance music. Melodic pop of the guitar kind gets called indie or tagged with some new hipster-ism to make it seem like a new revelation. Friday night at Spectrum saw two acts that proudly embrace elements of pop and use it to their distinct advantage. In a parallel and just world Cameras and in particular Simon Carter would be popstars by their own making and not media driven facsimiles.

Cameras have expanded from a duo to a four piece live band and as a result gained some depth and added muscle to their sound. Singer/keyboardist Eleanor cut a striking figure front and centre and it was when she took the lead vocal that the songs really came to life. She has a warm tone to her voice that enables her to sing in a sultry, dream-pop style or a more angsty pop delivery. Live, they have a bigger rock sound than the the songs on their Myspace page suggest but there is still just enough room between the crashing drums for some attractive melodies to sneak out beneath Spectrum’s many mirror balls. By including a cover of Pet Shop Boys’ It’s A Sin they showed that they do indeed recognise a great pop song and it sat well amongst their own.

Simon Carter has been hard at work over the last year recording, mixing and a preparing to release his debut solo album The Black Book Of The Universe. On the back of a support tour with The Vasco Era he played a set with his band that seemed to rock and roll with its own surging momentum. The band was exceptionally tight and seemed a great deal more relaxed than previous gigs when they were still finding their feet live.

Carter’s solo songs swung from classic pop to almost Pink Floyd guitar sounds and progressions. By the nature of his songwriting the songs stood out from pretty much everything that is happening on the local Sydney scene. Absent are distortion drenched garage rockisms or electro infused sounds and in their place is a deluge of melody and clever arrangements. Songs like Symbio brought to mind a strange jam session between Tears For Fears and Style Council, it is a fantastic classic sounding pop song that demands radio play.

The approach that Carter has taken with his songs is a bold one. In lesser hands the slow solos, twin keyboards and dramatic song structures would fall flat but on stage the band is so locked in and Carter sings and plays with such conviction that it all works. In The Wilderness I Wept rose and fell, rocked and swayed like Suede with a pulsing bass and some atmospherics that accelerated into the chorus with swagger and an urgency. It was controlled yet felt like that moment when a rollercoaster drops. Bombast never sounded so good.

Eschewing current trends Carter has a batch of timeless songs that don’t regress to slavish retro-isms. He showed that he can deliver them live with a killer band and fittingly included a sugar rush version of White Light/White Heat that was more akin to Bowie’s version than The Velvet Underground’s. Like Bowie did so successfully, Carter showed he is in his own way attempting to put some credibility back into artful and creative pop music.

this review first appeared on FasterLouder