Live Review: White Lung, Phantastic Ferniture

Midway through their opening performance, Phantastic Ferniture's Julia Jacklin revealed that tonight's set represents the band's final show at Newtown Social Club (in light of the venue's recently announced closure). "It's heavy and sad — but nice." Her reflection actually serves as an impressive summary of the Sydney outfit's musical charms.

An exceptionally tight and cohesive ensemble (with consistently exceptional songwriting), Phantastic Ferniture boast a rich and heavy sound that is equal parts exhausted melancholia and sparkling psychedelica. Their slower, weightier sound was, on paper, an odd fit for tonight's fantastically kinetic headliners, but their set revealed a similar level of skilful, precise musicality.

Since release, White Lung's Paradise has been widely praised as a significant evolution for the Canadian outfit. As well as finding the band engaging with higher production values and more complex songwriting, their 2016 album also expanded their following significantly. The results of all of this growth were very much on display throughout tonight's performance.

There's a marked contrast between the band's older and newer material, for example. Compared to the finessed, stop-start riffing and earth-shattering choruses of cuts like I Beg You, Narcoleptic or Kiss Me When I Bleed, White Lung's older material felt energetic but somewhat rudimentary. The audience, similarly, responded with significantly more enthusiasm for the band's new material.

Regardless, their performance was otherwise faultless. With the sheer force of their material and the single-minded bellows of frontwoman Mish Way-Barber, White Lung cannot help but compel their following to movement and violence. Audience members who sat sprawled and indifferent throughout the evening became electrified by the group's charisma.

Throughout, there were occasional frustrations with guitarist Kenneth William's perpetual tuning between songs, but, given the sprawling, shifting soundscapes that he managed to coax out of the instrument in tunes like Below or Paradise, it's difficult to begrudge the man time to ensure he's fully prepared for each number.

In all sincerity, there was very little to fault with the band's performance. It was powerful, transcendental, adrenalised. There was no encore but, given the energy thrown into each and every song prior to their final number, it was difficult to really demand more from the group. They left the stage with their growing legacy fully intact.