Project Description

LANKS

@ The Cambridge

(Live Review) 16/08/18

By Jess Moog

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LANKS

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It’s not everyday you get to see an angel. Especially in Newcastle, where the population is mainly made up of wannabe surfers, harsh bogans and financially unstable uni students. But our little city was blessed on Thursday with a holy performance by Melbourne artist Will Cuming, aka LANKS, who lit up the Cambo’s SideBar with copious amounts of heartfelt hymns. Currently in the middle of his National twentyseven Tour, LANKS gave Newy fans a night to remember, shifting through old and new tunes like the melodic magician he is.

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LANKS

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As soon as he graced the stage, LANKS introduced himself before chucking on the song ‘Bitterleaf’. It was an awesome opener, incorporating dynamic sounds with a killer drumbeat and some boppy guitar riffs. Right from the get go his voice was AMAZING, pouring into my ears like melted musical chocolate. Next on the agenda was the tune ‘Golden Age’, which features a super fun kazoo sort of sound and soft guitar picking. By this point the crowd had edged a little bit closer to the band, obviously doing their best to soak up the spectacular sounds flowing from the stage.

Shortly after, on came ‘Yours’. I hadn’t heard this one before, so I was surprised to hear him doing what could have been conceived as some slight rapping! In fact, all of LANKS’ music utilises a ton of musical genres, incorporating things such as electro beats, folk, and alternative rock to create some truly terrific tunes. The aural goodness continued, with Will performing his collab with Just A Gent titled ‘Heavy as a Heartbreak’, as well as one of my absolute favourite tunes ‘Strangers’, originally sung with Tia Gostelow. I’d caught word that Tia made an appearance at the Brissie gig, so a tiny inkling of me was disappointed when she didn’t pop on stage… but its ok because his solo version was just as sweet!

Although there was only three musos perched on the small stage, they definitely made use of the space. The drummer was doing his own thing while LANKS gave us some cute jumps and groovy head movements. Both of them treated the audience to an awesome instrumental piece halfway through the set too, with Will having a whack on the two small drums stationed nearby. But the person that stood out to me the most on stage was actually keyboardist Louise, who is also Will’s sister and manager. She was bloody FEELIN’ herself in every single song, tickling those ivories like they were the sexiest things on earth. Her facial expressions were absolutely golden, and really encouraged me to dance just a little bit harder.

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The SideBar is relatively cosy, so the crowd was definitely an intimate one. But having a smaller audience actually worked in the band’s favour, with everyone shaking their tooshies and swaying about in the space provided on the floor. The noises produced by the audience did not reflect it’s reduced size however, with everyone cheering nice and loudly after every song. LANKS also seemed super relaxed, and spoke to us all like we’d been friends for ages, which was really great to see.

As the evening sparkled on, our ears were treated to even more bangers, including his album’s title track ‘twentyseven’ and his wonderful Like A Version of Hayden James’ ‘NUMB’. But it was the last song that truly disintegrated my stubborn, icy heart. After coaching the crowd into singing a particular line in the tune, LANKS began singing the concluding song on his album, ‘Icarus’. This is the anthem in which he proposed to his now wife, and is also the song she walked down the aisle to. It was executed so perfectly, and hearing the audience harmonise along with their special lines honestly stabbed me right in the deepest of feels. He exited the room to an overwhelmingly appreciative cheer, leaving us all with swelled eyeballs and bubbling hearts.

UGH what a night. And what a lovely guy!

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Connect with LANKS:
Website // Facebook // Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – DB