Live review from Sonic Showcase:
Good night
假性失眠
Headache
冰島沒有水豚
零度
唯讀者
Unemployers’ music is all about texture – about polish over form, the journey not the destination. About picking an idea and running with it, twisting and turning with the muse, and wringing it of every jot of musical and emotional weight it carries. Amid a sea of shimmery reverb-laden guitars, opener “Good Night” began with a stadium-sized refrain that felt better suited to a set closer – the steadily building “It’s gonna be all right” refrain building in intensity as the music pulses and stretches. It segued straight into “假性失眠”, another meandering meditation marked by Fung’s engaging guitar solo, and a few rhythmic mishaps. “Headache” was simultaneously rousing and dreamy, another journey without destination – if this is emo, as they claim, it’s a nebulous take with the harsh corners shaved off, and varnished with the ethereality of shoegaze and bedroom pop, an aesthetic embodied in lead singer Keiko’s husky, half-spoken delivery.
Major chords and city pop vibes marked out “冰島沒有水豚”, while keyboardist JC let out his inner jazz demon on the slow-burn build up of “零度”, which descended into another dreamlike finale. Closer “唯讀者” saw Keiko suddenly switch to, well, singing – unleashing a vocal register, clarity and command tactically but perhaps foolishly kept hidden up until that moment.
There’s much to admire in the earnest mood conjuring of 失業園 Unemployers, whose smart arrangements and conviction can carry the slightest of musical ideas up rugged emotional landscapes.
– Rob Garratt
