Live Review: Alpine

It’s been a while since Alpine played at the Forum in their hometown. The last time was back in 2012 when they were just starting out and supported Matt Corby. They’ve come a long way over the past three years and tonight they’re back and bigger than ever with their very own headline show to launch their second album, Yuck, with their name in lights and all.

Launching straight into their new material with Crunches, we melt at the sound of the sweet vocal harmonies from frontwomen Phoebe Baker and Lou James, who pair together ever so perfectly. Sparkling from head to toe, the girls are looking glamorous in glitter and gold with plenty of tulle. Despite being outnumbered by their posse of four guys playing their instruments around them, they know how to steal the limelight and exude girl power.

For the first half of the show we get a pattern of one new song followed by one oldie. Hands is always a crowdpleaser and we can’t help but give in to the seductive vocals and hypnotic rhythms that make us want to dance. The band is joined by a brass duo, playing a trumpet and trombone for Shot Fox, exploring a sexy new sound flooded with synth waves and glitchy chords.

Turning 27 on June 27 “must be pretty cosmic,” says Baker as she presents a chocolate cake to her best friend James and belts out a Happy Birthday with the audience singing along. Leaving James feeling overwhelmed, Baker offers the front row a piece of the Coles mud cake and leaves the remainder on the stage for anyone who wants to dig in. Cake-in-hand they take a few bites between breaths and striking violin breakdowns during their latest single, Foolish.

Licking the chocolate cake off their hands they let their hair down and get a bit loose for Much More, which starts off slow and gains momentum with emotionally charged lyrics. The chorus on Damn Baby sums up their evolved sound perfectly as they sing, “Yeah, I’m here, and I’ve been willing to take this leap for a while now.” It’s not something we’d expect from Alpine but we love the bold new direction in sound, boosted by more horns and upbeat pop sensibilities to create a surge of energy.

Following the infectious Gasoline we stomp the wooden floors and demand an encore. Thankfully they return with Villages and then the girls mess their make-up and get a bit crazy as they let it all out and dance around erratically for an instrumental-heavy outro with Lovers 2, ready to continue celebrating long into the night.