Live Review: Andy Bull, MTNS, Bec Sandridge

On Saturday night three outrageously underrated homegrown acts hit the stage at Oxford Art Factory.

Bec Sandridge's first live performance was with Andy Bull two years ago.  Tonight they share the bill again ahead of the 24 Oct launch of Sandridge's EP, Wild Heart. It's just her, a half-size guitar and a beautiful voice that wanders between tremulous and strong on a solid set of warm folk pop, with lyrics as unpretentious and personal as her chatter between songs.

Meanwhile, Brisbane band MTNS (pronounced Mountains; losing your vowels is a thing these days) are champions of chillwave – atmospheric electronica soaked with a heavy '80s vibe thanks to Robbie Hellberg's ethereal synths and a cracking electric drumkit manned by Joseph Thiang, tinged with a triumph courtesy of Tom Eggert's powerful vocals. Current dreamy single I Lost Track Of Time and a spaced-out cover of Arcade Fire's The Suburbs demonstrate a sound much bigger than the sum of three.

The mostly highly anticipated voice (excuse the pun) could be somewhere between these two sounds. A small but enthusiastic crowd has grown exponentially, and when Andy Bull and his band begin the OAF is packed.

Bull has transformed in the last few years, moving beyond the '70s piano sensibility of his 2009 debut album We're Too Young, on which a talented songwriter quietly emerged, and the upbeat indie pop of his 2010 EP Phantom Pains, this year revealing a flair for electronic production with addictive singles Keep On Running and Baby I Am Nobody Now. It's almost symbolic that he's chopped the long locks in favour of a gelled 'do' as slick as his new tunes. He opens with one of the latter in a flurry of synths, stuttering snares and keyboard slides, showing off a mindblowing vocal range that verges on operatic as he sings, “Maybe I'm so good that I could die.”

He has plenty of reason to be confident. After crowd pleasers including Phantom Pains and his hit with Lisa Mitchell, Dog, Bull delivers a brilliant rendition of Nobody Now. It's packed with emotional energy, marking the contrast between the track's jaunty drum beat and bitter lyrics, completed by gospel-style backup vocals that define the second half of the song, provided by the bass and lead guitarists.

“You'll have to allow me a Brian Ferry moment,” he says afterwards as his bandmates clear the stage, leaving him to melt the room crooning My Street on his own, with gently echoing keys. He gives Last Waltz the same tender treatment, prefacing it with a sarcastically funny address about that high-pitched voice and seguing into a musing on masculinity. Clever and thoughtful, world weary yet positive, Bull completes the set with several more surging new tracks, a fitting cover of Tears for Fears' Rule The World and lastly, the anxiously self-aware Keep On Running.

“I'll swim in a sea of approval, I will/For a panacea that's already my insecurity, calling for more than a thrill,” he sings to a crowd that's audibly ecstatic. Whether he still craves it or not, Andy Bull found himself swimming in approval tonight.