Live Review: #1 Dads

“I didn’t think this would even get listened to, let alone by so many people,” a humbled Tom Iansek says of #1 Dads (his side project away from his role as half of the acclaimed Big Scary) as he took the stage at the Spiegeltent. “So thanks for getting around it.”

On a sunny afternoon the tent was at capacity with faces quickly delighted at the self-deprecating banter of Iansek and his band, drummer Chris Port and guitarist Angus Rigby. It was like we were crowded into the living room of a Melbourne sharehouse: the very place where some of the riffs we were hearing had germinated years earlier.

Iansek’s solo project has birthed a second album, 2014’s About Face. It traverses lazy guitars, a la the suburban dreaminess tinged with faint existentialism of Camberwell – which climaxes with a sax solo – to delicate piano moments and all-out rock ballads. Danceable beats make appearances reminiscent of Big Scary’s irresistible and intense tunes, and the common thread through it all is brilliant, unpretentious songwriting.

In the soft, sparse Blood Pt. 2 – a seemingly hopeless, self-described “ballad with no reprise” – he sings that “fortune favours the strong and the brave/and I am neither of those”, while the guitar-heavy Sister aches with affection for a faraway sibling: “Sister I love you/more than I miss you/Drop me a line when you’re down here/you don’t have to live by fear”.

Iansek was not the only star. Rigby had the crowd in stitches after correcting the singer’s promise of “a few more songs” when there were only two left. “I always thought a few was two,” Iansek said.

“A few is three,” Rigby insisted. “Four is more. Five is a bunch.” If the applause was an indication, everyone agreed.

Ainslie Wills lent a soaring voice to So Soldier, but the most spine-tingling moment of the set was without question Return To, with ethereal vocals and dance moves to boot from Lowlakes’ Tom Snowdon. Iansek provided a shimmering accompaniment on keys. Both guests returned on stage for the closer Sleepwalking.

Whether he’s singing about buying bread and milk or about heartache, #1 Dads evokes the simplest of emotions and blows them up with a voice that is unafraid to be vulnerable.