Date: March 9, 2012
Venue: Woodland Bar, Brisbane
Acts: Timothy Carroll, Planet Love Sound
Despite good intentions, I haven’t caught Timothy Carroll live for a good eighteen months. Maybe longer.
That means I’m caught by surprise when he eschews his rich back-catalogue of acoustic folk in favour of a much rockier sound. I wonder if the surprise is why the first half of the set really doesn’t hook my attention.
I mean… it’s nice, it’s competent. The melodies are pretty enough. But it just doesn’t resonate. And in the end it’s nothing that half a dozen indie-rock bands round town aren’t already doing — some of them better.
Perhaps the source of my discontent is the one-foot-in-the-water approach that only sees him swap from acoustic guitar to electric late in proceedings. Because that’s when things really start to take off as he focuses on creating a thick, fuzzing sound that has some real meat and grunt.
Carroll is a prodigiously talented songwriter. The memorableness of the tunes on For Bread & Circuses is proof enough. Here’s hoping he can translate that knack to this new arena.