Remember when the biggest act in the country was Scissor Sisters? Male and female dual singers, wild outfits, silly stage names, campness everywhere – simpler times. There’s a similar vibe about Brisbane’s Confidence Man, a jokey side project from four people in different bands that took off after effusive support from the influential Australian radio station Triple J. They call themselves Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild, and have proved highly appealing on the festival circuit thanks to Planet and Bones’s enthusiastic but unpolished dancing and the latter pair’s habit of maintaining anonymity using black beekeeper hats. Noel Gallagher is a prominent fan – they’re supporting him around the UK this summer – and they have also told tales of having U2 round for dinner.
A debut album in 2018, proudly titled Confident Music for Confident People, kept the beats funky and saw Planet delivering her semi-spoken vocals in a mannered American accent, like an influencer in between selfies. The opening song on this follow-up, Woman, sounds initially like she’s becoming a shade more serious. Assertive lines such as “Don’t call me the spark/I’m the fire and the flame,” accompanied by retro synths, could place her beside the feminist dance pop of last year’s highly acclaimed album by Self Esteem.
