Against The Current – Tuning Fork October 3, 2017

Against The Current played to an all-ages crowd at The Tuning Fork last night. The 13th Floor’s Simon Todd reports in… 

For an all-ages, 7.30pm-on-a-Tuesday kinda gig, there was a sizable crowd already for dream-pop duo LEXXA, in the supporting slot. When the harmonising, [not-identical] twins Maude and Julia Morris get it right, you think great things are in store for them – there are moments of Bananarama-eque pop perfection on The Day We Met. Their cover of Paramour’s Hard Times saw them looking most comfortable, and their humble, friendly banter went down well with the supportive crowd. “If we shared a uterus, I think we can share instruments” said Maude before the pair left with set highlight, I Got Better Friends Now.

You can probably tell a band’s got it sorted if they’ve got ‘coming-on-music’. And from first track, Running With The Wild Things, Against the Current sure did have the tide on their side.

Throughout the set, singer Chrissy Costanza was clearly moved that NZ’s young misfits had come out for her band, saying they were “tripply excited” to be in NZ and frequently bonding with the die-hard crowd. At one point she asked for recommendations for the one free day the band has before they slog off on another stint of what is a huge tour to support their first fully-fledged album, In Our Bones.

The set was made up of songs from the album and the band’s previous EPs. After a mention to her cousin who’d been injured the Las Vegas shooting, the band launched into standout track, Outsiders. For a band that’s made it’s following on YouTube with covers, and whose album is mostly ‘energeneric’, I thought this track lyrically and melodically genuinely had something to say.

In our Bones was the only acoustic moment, but made me pine for a live keyboardist; the reliance of backing tapes took away any emotional attachment for me during this break in the set.

From then on it could have been power-pop by numbers. But in her tracky dacks, Costanza is a dervish, while the complimentary blokes – front of stage guitarist Dan Gow and powerhouse eye-magnet drummer Will Ferri – really gruntify the sound, much to joy of the loyal moshers down the front – especially during the call-and-reponse-tastic Gravity.

This was a gig with unrelenting energy and a heart-warming moshpit, in a venue that doesn’t naturally lend itself to one. I left thinking Against the Current will be welcomed back, in a more fitting venue with a bigger crowd.

Simon Todd

Photos courtesy Shahlin Graves.