In many ways, Bleak Squad can be described as a 1980-2000s Australian alternative supergroup, consisting of Adalita (Magic Dirt), Mick Turner (Dirty Three), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party), and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting) who was the original driving force at bringing the group together. With that sort of pedigree there was high hopes for them at their debut performance on August 1st at the Queenscliff Town Hall, supported by Matt Davis (Gersey). As far as single-performer supports go, Davis’ was pretty good and charmingly joined by his daughter during the show, although the reminiscent track “Bathtub in the Rain” was really as cringe-worthy as he is worried about.
The main act was greeted enthusiastically, unsurprisingly so given the pedigree, even if it was quite an unusual location for their debut performance as a group in prior to the release of their first album, “Strange Love”. This eponymous title also serves as as a track on the album and the opening song of this concert. It doesn’t serve badly as a concert-opener, gentle, brooding, slower-paced, with lyrics as described by the title. Perhaps not a good choice to follow, however was “Safe As Houses”, whose pacing just toned things down ever further, until hitting a wall of sound. Things picked up with “Everything Must Change”, which had a bit of pace, some western-punk sensibilities, and excellent lyrical content.
The rest of the concert, however, didn’t particularly inspire. They were obviously enjoying themselves, the audience was glad to be present at this debut, but your reviewer thought that they were not really performing at anything close to optimal tightness; it was rather like another practise session with a large audience, which is forgivable for a new band on the scene but not for seasoned professionals such as these. An exception which must be mentioned to this was “Melanie” played later in the set (and also the final track of the album), which had good progression, speedy, and harder rock passions. To be fair, throughout a litany of the uninspired and pedestrian-paced, Adalita’s vocals were beautiful and clear, despite a deliberately low-key stage presence, and Mick Turner showed a a dedicated seriousness to his work.
From all accounts, the band’s album “Strange Love” is tightly produced and deserving of critical acclaim. The same, however, could not be said for their debut performance, which just goes to show what a little bit of extra work and a studio can do. The live performance it seemed to be a real-world example of the philosophy of nominative determinism, the counter-intuitive idea that the name for an person or organisation influences their behaviour; “The importance of being Earnest”, as Oscar Wilde suggested. This came to mind often during Bleak Squad’s performance. To summon the spirit of Dickens, it was fog everywhere. A fog that set with depth in opening song, a fog that grew in thickness with rare, all too rare, moments of light and brightness. A fog of repetitiveness, a fog that bores, a fog that rolls so slowly from stage to adoring fans, the baaing sheep of the valley who delight in the sloppy wetness, monotony, a lack of pace and movement. There was simply too much bleakness from this squad on this night.
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