Danica Bryant
8th September 2023
Common Room, Hastings, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Andrew Caldwell.
In a joyful return to home territory, Danica Bryant has played once more at allegedly Hawkes Bay’s best venue, the Common Room. With an ever-expanding set of original songs, drawing on a wide range of lyrical inspiration, she continues to develop her own strong and original voice, one which will surely lead to a wider audience as more exposure ensues.
Bursting straight out with earlier single “Heart Eyes”, the enjoyment was clearly visible and almost palpable. A trio of genuine friends, with a deep knowledge and appreciation of each other’s abilities, playing the songs they know and love-how could this go wrong? A stripped-back version of this year’s single, “Apologise”, led in to a trio of songs from last year’s “Ego Death” EP” all of them demonstrative of the development in songwriting and playing over the career thus far. The concluding number in this combination was the cutting and bitter “Crush”, inspired by an unnamed male performer – a wee bit of mystery that has the potential to arouse similar speculation to Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” in the Aotearoa music scene! Perhaps in time we’ll find out the name of this player, with his “shitty solos”, but until then, the mystery abides…
A bold piece of experimentalism followed, in the form of this gig’s rotating cover song (each venue in the tour being treated to their own unique cover). The hometown treat was a version of MCR’s “Teenagers”, complete with the kazoo element it’s been missing up till this point – but I’m sure a word in the right ear could see it worked in to Mr Way and company’s soundscape! And then we could all say that we saw it first..!
A brace of older favourites, “Plains of Venus” and “Cutlery”, with their themes of domestic abuse and mental health respectively, bracketed the as-yet unreleased “Burlesque Witch”, a meditation on the cruel nature of societal standards, by which women can be regarded as almost disposable once their flush of youthful physical beauty fades. Heady stuff indeed for a night out at a gig! But all wrapped in an enticingly sweet package – the aural equivalent of the type of sour candy whose bitterness is only revealed upon consumption.
Saving the big reveal for (nearly) the end, the penultimate number was the new single “Libra”, the release of which is imminent. Given the often serious nature of much of the lyrical content elsewhere displayed, there’s a possibility that some may wonder, given the name, if this derives its inspiration from musings on governmental policies around provision of period products, but this isn’t the case. This isn’t a Manic Street Preachers (or a distaff equivalent) gig! Eschewing such earnestness, it is instead a song about astrology, particularly inspired by an acquaintance’s habit of blaming character flaws on her astrological sign – a very convenient let-out… This song is a further instalment in the chronicle of Danica’s development as a performer and songwriter, the development being sufficient to attract support for the first time, from NZ on Air – quite the endorsement!
The set concluded with another throwback from the long career, “Dizzy” from the Cider EP, a worthy point to close a gig which marked another important milestone in the slow march towards global domination. One day, Danica!
Were you there at the Common Room for this magical alternative rock gig? Or have you seen Danica Bryant perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.
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