Live Review: Thelma Plum, James Crooks, Angus Dawson

Thelma Plum's final stint of her tour was concluded at Jack Rabbit Slim's to an adoring crowd of local fans. Supported by the likes of Angus Dawson, James Crooks and an even more talented backing band, it was a night held together by an impressive patchwork of production by all three artists. Whether it was the hauntingly ominous James Blake-esque vibes given off by Dawson, or even the manically tribal-like drumming by Crooks, it was needless to say each set complemented the other.

Angus Dawson's set was mostly morbid in feel, in a good way. A cathartic morbidity, akin to being at a Caribbean funeral — sure your best mate died, but at least there were steel drums, that's pretty cool. Dawson's music was much of the same, sure, it was depressing, but it wasn't depressing for the sake of depressing; backed up by a smooth beat and two other accompanists either side of him, his sound gave off a mystic aura, or a cryptically smooth veil which washed over the listener.

James Crooks lit up the stage with some impressive samples and beat making. Manically drumming away at the production desk to manually create his beats really added a liveliness to his music, an un-simulated rawness which added to the tenacious reality of Crook's performance. With the crowd coming steadily closer, the venue started to transform into a mini dance fest. The set transitioned and became steadily more active as it rolled on, with Crooks moving on to songs with more visceral vocal samples and headier drum beats, the crowd adopting a club mentality.

Thelma Plum emerged to rapturous applause, poised in classy black and holding a distinct presence on stage; she threw herself immediately into her set. Far from the acoustic feel of her earlier works, Plum pushed forward a more mature, produced sound, playing songs off her upcoming album with a mixture of old fan favourites as well. Calm and tentative between songs, she showered the Perth crowd with compliments, saying all Perth locals were good-looking, giving an ego boost to every punter there. Around Here was played, with the classic "Fuck you!" from the chorus exploding and echoing in unison from the crowd. Finishing off with a gratuitous double encore, Thelma Plum expressed her gratitude to the crowd for coming back each time, leaving the stage as she emerged — amid rapturous applause.