The debut album of Melbourne-indie band Art of Fighting, Wires, received widespread acclaim, receiving the ARIA in 2021 for Best Alternative Album, featuring the soaring tracks Give Me Tonight, Reasons Are All I Have Left and Skeletons.
Marking the 21st anniversary of Wires, the band will play the 2001 album in full in the intimate surrounds of Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, in all its grandeur and melancholy. In 2019, after over a decade’s hiatus, Art of Fighting returned with their fourth album the dream-pop Luna Low, showcasing their refined beauty and sonically serene palette.
I loved Wires. It sat alongside Ukiyo-E’s Inland, Prop’s Small Craft Rough Sea and Augie March’s Sunset Studies. It provided space.
“When we’re playing them, there’s so much of a gap between the beats that if we don’t all hit the beat at the same time it’s gonna sound terrible, so it’s like walking a tightrope when you’re playing those really slow tempos,” he added. “And I think it worked really well for the lyrical content for that album, because all of that was about to fall apart any minute too.”
I remember seeing them at the Hi-Fi Bar in 2003, however I feel that Melbourne Recital Centre was a better match for their music. Then maybe again I am just getting old and would rather sit down at gigs.
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