Live Review: Lisa Mitchell, Dustin Tebbutt, Alex The Astronaut

26 June 2017 | 1:00 pm | Joseph Wilson

"...The alternation between Tebbutt's and Mitchell's vocals made way for interesting harmonies."

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The Perth leg of the Distant Call tour featuring Dustin Tebbutt and Lisa Mitchell sharing the stage was unconventional, fleeting and fun - as long as you could brave the icy draught at the Newport Hotel.

Kicking the night off with the folky sojourn's of Alex The Astronaut, she was armed with just her guitar and vocals - it was a brave move as at times it felt her voice just wasn't breaking across the venue. But her sweet enthusiasm and references to her time in New York kept the crowd attentive and made her stage presence feel pretty laid back. Humorously likening herself to Donald Trump - who allegedly studied a physics degree - the fact that she was trying to sell items with her name emblazoned on them was maybe one thing Alex The Astronaut shared with the President of the United States. Playing well known tracks Rockstar City, Already Home and a slew of new tracks, Alex The Astronaut made the crowd feel like they had been taken on her musical journey - a pleasant, narratively folky flow.

The crowd coalesced around the stage when Dustin Tebbutt and Lisa Mitchell's set swung around, the crowd got an appeasing middle road between a full-time collaboration and a singular, solo set. Kicking off with Plans, Tebbutt warmed up the crowd with his wistful, high-toned vocals and lightly picked guitar arpeggios. It wasn't until First Light when Lisa Mitchell finally crept up onto the stage. A low-key appearance and no extravagant introduction from Tebbutt, it was these moments which ultimately sold the gig, and the alternation between Tebbutt's and Mitchell's vocals made way for interesting harmonies.

With a brief exchange between Tebbutt and Mitchell touching on his pizza making hobby, the crowd got an impromptu cooking lesson with the secret to good pizza according to Tebbutt - extra mushrooms. Hearing the familiar sounds of Bones and The Breach from Tebbutt, the latter half of their set included a lot of Mitchell's material, prompting a lot of the crowd to cheer as she played Coin Laundry and Spiritus.

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The night closed with a cover of Innerbloom by RUFUS. In a fury of echoing techno synths coupled with the power of Tebbutt's and Mitchell's vocals, there's only hope the two will collaborate more in the future.