There is this song of Flotation Toy Warning, which suddenly changes pace and proceeds with opera-like singing. “Losing Carolina; For Drusky”. I expected them to press some button and play a sample of this singing part when performing on stage. But no, singer Paul Carter opened his mouth widely and passionately sang this hard part by himself. A part that one would never relate to his voice when listening to their record. Still, he did a fantastic job on it!

This was the only show of Flotation Toy Warning in Austria so far (anybody knows if they’re working on new stuff?). It took place during the first Bluebird Festival in 2005 at the Porgy & Bess, which is actually more of a jazz club. Since then the annual festival – run by the very ambitious Vienna Songwriting Association (VSA) – is one of the events in Vienna where you can count on seeing bands you have never expected to come here plus some bands you have never heard of but will keep listening to as soon as you experienced them there (The Hollows from Ireland might most probably become one of those this year).

There are of course some familiar names to be found within the line-up as well for the three nights from November 20th to 22nd, like Okkervil River, Baby Dee, SoKo or The Miserable Rich. See more details on the VSA’s website. We’ll stick around and do some videos.