Reviews

Herman Düne are the very essence of that principle. Building their songs around David-Ivar Herman Düne’s simple guitar and his brother Neman’s drums and percussion, the only augmentation tonight was delivered by the divine backing singers known as The Woo-Woos.

The resulting sound is one of genuine innocent beauty, undercut with a wonderfully honest comedy. Face it, how many other bands can get away with lines like "if you worship Jesus when I am a Jew/then you’ll know how bad I like to be with you"?

Tonight, they needed that simple approach. Not because the packed crowd were about to turn on them or because their songs aren’t enough to carry them through, but because of the choice of venue.

Imagine a gig played through a muffler and you get some idea of the sound at the Music Box. Listening to David chat between songs was like hanging on the words of Charlie Brown’s teacher, and when they played, the mix was a fuzzy mud.

Still, out of it grew such jaunty beauties as 1-2-3 Apple Tree and Take Him Back To New York City, though the biggest smile and general shuffle-along of the night was saved for I Wish That I Could See You Soon, a charming tune made even more so by them sprinkling in a touch of psych-rock to the live version.

All in, the word that springs to mind is enjoyable and honestly, you can guarantee Herman Düne will be content with that. They’re not a band bent on global dominance, instead being happy with just making people smile and tonight, that’s exactly what they did.