Sometimes I think I don’t like fun enough. I’d rather watch a provocative, transfixing, and artistically challenging musical performance than hit up a dance party any day of the week. My tendencies often put me at odds with a majority of modern music listeners. However, Cut Copy has something of an antidote for what ails me. In the era of EDM and impersonal shadows behind tables pushing buttons, Cut Copy manages to deliver dancey pop songs with a live band arrangement.
Cut Copy’s songs are just as infectious and irresistibly dance-worthy as any number of DJs but possess greater nuance and less formula. This isn’t the mindless thump of club music. On their most recent record Free Your Mind, the band even incorporated psychedelic elements, broadening the appeal of their music through the use of sitar sounds and dreamy soundscapes that mingle with driving beats and shimmering keys. Another advantage to Cut Copy and like minded dance-pop bands is the employment of effortful lyricism, in this case delivered in the dreamy vocal delivery of frontman Dan Whitford. These lyrics and vocals emerge as convincingly more arresting than the formulaic voice samples found in modern club music and EDM.
On Saturday night, Cut Copy kept the crowd moving throughout their over-an-hour-long set, captivating fans with their impressive onstage energy and sing-along melodies. Up-and-coming dance-pop band Classixx opened the night with a set of also danceable tunes. Despite being an opener, the band has recently gained enough notoriety to have a good number of fans singing along and pumping their fist in the crowd. The band plays several more festivals throughout the summer.
Check out photos from the night below. All images © Bryan Parker and Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
