Telegraph Tower, an unassuming Sydney guitar and cello duo, pride themselves on having plenty of questions but few answers.
Barnaby Smith and Oliver Downes met at playgroup when they were four. Despite a decade and a half living in separate hemispheres, they reconvened in Sydney in 2011 to see what might be possible, equipped with Barnaby’s songs and Oliver’s cello. The result turned out to be something that surprised both. The combination of Barnaby’s poetic, gentle sensibility and Oliver’s intuitive instrumental contributions served to produce a sound and style that is provocative yet pretty.
Immediate touchstones must be the Joe Boyd‐produced folk fusions of the 1960s, such as Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band, as well as those emerging around the same time across the Atlantic: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tim Buckley and The Band. Then there are modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams and Cass McCombs. The name, meanwhile, comes from a Gary Higgins song.
The Concubine EP represents their first foray into recording, a selection of five songs of subtlety and literate power that makes for absorbing, and sometimes disconcerting listening.
CONCUBINE EP Winter Tour
9 August, The Front, Canberra
with Hollie Matthew + Fiona Hinton
$10 entry
10 August, Yours & Owls, Wollongong
with Charles Buddy Daaboul + Hollie Matthew + Kay Proudlove
$10 entry
23 August, The Terrace, Newcastle
with Hollie Matthew
$10 entry
24 August, 5 Church Street, Bellingen
with Hollie Matthew
7 September, The Gasometer, Melbourne
with Jess Locke + Isaac de Heer
$10 entry