Live Review: Sietta, Left

Sydney support Left perform vaporous indie-pop, despite the fact that Horrorshow's Adit Gauchan is their producer. Fronted by Sarah Corry, Left are a bit Chairlift, a bit AlunaGeorge. The duo, with a mystery drummer, cover the forgotten Destiny's Child number Girl in the mode of Jessie Ware's quiet storm. They finish with their intriguing single Nessun Dorma. Between acts, DJ MzRizk plays soul, funk and hip hop with oh-so-subtle turntable scratches.

By way of Darwin electronic soul combo Sietta's lead-in, muso/producer James Mangohig, on laptop, drops Nina Simone's glorious Feeling Good, DJ-style. Chatty divette Caiti Baker then comes on stage, bejewelled and wearing a black singlet, shiny-green reptilian leggings and platform hi-tops – like a B-girl empress. The retro-nuevo Sietta open with I Need You Now, melodic '90s R&B off The Invisible River. While tonight is an album launch, the Elefant Traks signings pull out material new and old, including Silence (from 2011's debut The Seventh Passenger). They also revisit the bluesy My Man, punters singing along. With her powerhouse voice, Baker could give Adele a run for her money and she's not stage-shy. Next is another new jam, the hip hop soul cut Such Desire, and Sietta ironically (and quirkily) mash it up with Ace Of Base's Euro-reggae All That She Wants. “Where we're from, they still play that in nightclubs,” quips Mangohig on his mic.

Sietta promised cool guests for their NSC gig, but none are more surprising than members of Darwin's Pacific Island performance collective Sunameke. The women represent traditional Northern Australian culture with dancing and songs at intervals. Mangohig acknowledges that this may seem “random”, but it actually works. Sunameke even provide backing vocals for Sietta's acoustic Invisible, Mangohig now toting a guitar. TZU's Joelistics joins Sietta for an unrehearsed-yet-fun rendition of You Am I's Heavy Heart (Mangohig was formerly TZU's live bassist).

Mangohig back behind his postmodern gadgetry, Sietta deliver a show highlight in the riveting Disturbingly Beautiful – their take on post-dubstep soul. The speakers rumble ominously. Melbourne neo-soulstress Hailey Cramer, in a summery fuchsia dress, duets with Baker on the melodic Greener. Sietta save (possibly) their finest song for the midnight hour: Let It Go, epic gospelly trip hop. Sietta can surely only generate more heat.