Living in Phnom Penh, the opportunities for proper musical appreciation are few and far between. I have tried to find venues that have the bare minimum of interesting music, but the best I’ve come across have been fancy guest houses that seem to peg the high watermark of Western music at the release of Moby’s Play*. A host of circumstances has nearly robbed this country of its musical past and it has been trying to recover ever since. It was in this environment that Laneway Singapore was brought to my attention. A shining beacon from across the Gulf of Thailand, the fest promised the likes of Twin Shadow, Austra and M83. Seeing no excuse for missing such an event, I politely inquired as to press credentials and worked a side-trip to Singapore into my meager travel budget.

The first thing you should know about Singapore is that it is expensive. Not like, “Oh you’ve been in Phnom Penh, now Burma seems pricey by comparison” or even “welcome back from SE Asia, America costs more” expensive…no, Singapore is “Jesus, they don’t even charge that in New York” expensive. Fortunately, I had well-traveled friends on hand to help me stretch my budget. We stayed five to a room in a well-equipped backpacker’s hang out, near what I was told was the President’s mansion. Fast, expensive cars filled the streets and it cost us nearly $40 to make it from the airport into the city; a roughly 20 minute trek. Booze was pricey too but we managed to find a 7-11 carrying cheap tall-boys of a less-than-stellar SE-Asian pilsner called Anchor (pronounced “an-chore” by Cambodians so as to differentiate it from their own brew, Angkor.”) It also helped that my conniving friends had managed to sneak in several bottles of high end liquor bought at Cambodian bargain-basement prices.

After a night’s rest we awoke to a beautiful Singapore Sunday morning and made our way, along with a host of others in our “hotel,” towards Ft. Canning, a former military outpost now carefully and thoughtfully redesigned as a park. Despite my fears regarding the so-called “nanny state,” the vibe was as relaxed as any American festival I’ve attended and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Getting into the park was painless, the lines short and the security pleasant; we arrived just as openers Cults were playing and had no trouble at all. We spent the first hour or so wandering around, listening to Yuck then Chairlift, while trying to get a feel for the crowd.

As indie festival crowds go, this one was not too far out of the norm, except in their extreme level of enthusiasm. It would not be unfair to say that these kids and young adults, gathered from across Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and China among other countries, were unabashedly pumped to be there.

As Chairlift wrapped up, I made my way towards the journalists area, just off stage left, and chatted it up with correspondents from all over the region. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was happy to find super knowledgeable writers, musicians and scenesters.

After a brief break between sets, the photographers hit the pit for Austra.

Normally when addressing a festival, I’d be devoting most of the time to the bands and their performances; however, with this line-up, there weren’t too many questions of quality or fears of down time. If you follow POLY or attend shows regularly, you already know what these particular bands do in front of a stoked crowd. Austra handled themselves like a band beyond their performing years, showcasing their icy electro with a touch of the exotic – the same routine that killed at VIA Festival earlier this fall. Girls and The Drums followed suit with their own well-oiled sets, while Anna Calvi and Laura Marling, two female artists with whom I was previously not familiar, pleasantly surprised me with some really great songs and engaging performances to match.

I skipped over mentioning Twin Shadow, who played between the Calvi and Marling sets, not to exclude but to commend. Unsurprisingly, George Lewis Jr. and his travelling band were a highlight of the festival. Besides the fact that song for song they arguably have the strongest material to draw from, they have mastered their stage show in a way that brings out the best in each selection. After being expelled from the photo pit after a customary three-song limit, I made my way to the drink tent only to look back over a crowd enthralled with the spectacle on stage. Headliners M83 may have had a bigger reaction later in the evening, but Twin Shadow nearly matched their energy without the build-up or gigantic light display.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart took the stage next and did their best to build on George’s work. They managed to keep the crowd up admirably and were aided by Feist and Toro Y Moi who kept things going late into the evening.

Penultimate headliners, The Horrors, seemed a little out of place in this line-up. Judging from their reception at the press tent earlier in the day, they seem to have a big following in the area, but to me their music seemed a little too…like everything else. One unifying feature (and strength) of the Laneway line-up was that each band had a distinct voice all its own; The Horrors were competent and a solid live band, but their music seemed a little hesitant, like they were still searching for a voice their own.

A band that has had no trouble maintaining a unique voice, and a sizable southeast Asian following judging from the crowd noise, M83 closed the night in fine, anthemic fashion. Lights blazed, the crowd screamed along with the lyrics, and nearly every photo I tried to snap was interrupted by waving hands from the crowd in front of me. All in all, not the worst problem to have during the final set of a festival.

Judging Laneway purely as a festival, I would describe it as a resounding success. Great bands, fantastic crowd, a well thought-out set up and friendly staffers…that pretty much does the trick. My complaints are minimal – price (then again its Singapore), concessions/merch costs (a little outrageous…at least for the merch) and Heineken sponsorship (please stop being “exclusive alcohol” sponsors for indie festivals.) On a broader and more personal note, Laneway had the added bonus of introducing me to a number of highly enthusiastic journalists and music nerds who have grown up with a musical upbringing that is contextually foreign to my own, yet ultimately not all that different. I’m looking forward to trading tunes and sharing stories with them; I hope I can get them into some weird stuff from the mid-Atlantic, but I think I’m more excited to have them get me into some weird stuff from the other side of the globe.

Special thanks to Sammy at the Deck Media Group for hooking up the pass. Also to AJ, Nadia, Rully, Krit, Priscilla, Dzul, Agnes, Ridduanl, Travinia, Sueann, Yuran, Ben, Zakimbi, and Arvin for showing me around, talking shop and helping me with some photos. And of course to Kristin for helping me out with Singapore and Allie for helping me out with every other city that came before it.

*to be fair, there are a few cover bands that keep things interesting, but nothing approaching what any of us would typically recognize as a “scene.”