Live Review: Adalita, Laura Jean

Adalita has come back strong with her new album, All Day Venus, filling in all that vast space that existed in her sombre self-titled debut with driving rhythms and buzzing guitars. It's a louder listen, and a better one for it, and her Annandale set drove the point home.

Fellow Melbourne musician Laura Jean has been touring with Adalita, and her gothic pastoral folk songs were a haunting and vivid accompaniment. Laura Jean has released several records and so she had a good catalogue to draw from, and her set felt too short (in a good way). There's a subtle sense of strength and force behind her delicate voice that elevated her sound above some generic acoustic folk singer-songwriter, and her arrangements were really nicely played.

Adalita's set was a roughly 70-30 ratio of new songs to old, and the setlist was a great selection that covered a lot of ground. I Want Your Love is a great pop song given a razor-sharp edge thanks to Adalita's dead-serious delivery, and Trust Is Rust sounded far meatier than expected thanks to a guitar-centric mix. All Day Venus turned into a sludgy grunge jam barrelling along with a hundred cymbal hits splashing all around it.

Slower ballads like the classic Fool Around had to compete with a chatty crowd, which robbed some of Adalita's Spartan songwriting of its power. Being preachy and didactic isn't our job here at The Music, but sometimes it's tempting. Songs like Perfection would sound absolutely amazing if folks quit flapping their gums and supped their beers in silence for three lousy minutes. Nevertheless, small irritations were worth it to hear her (and her quality new band) belt out Blue Sky, a crunchy indie epic with some great hooks.

It was a solid gig that showcased a great new set of songs from a master craftswoman, and it felt good to have her back again. She hasn't slowed down in the face of personal adversity and has written some of her best and loudest work since Magic Dirt's glory days. It also felt fitting to have the Annandale hosting.