BroodsWith no local talent on the three-act bill, 16-year-old vocalist East had the duty of opening the night and did so in explosive fashion. Hailing from Sydney, East and her backing-band demonstrated impressive versatility within the indie-pop genre. The most emotional track of her set was Until Then, featuring a precious and innocent vocal that was then completely transformed in the subsequent tune, a cover of The Neighbourhood´s Sweater Weather. In this, East soared to notes that would simply embarrass the most seasoned of vocalists, illustrating professionalism and talent well beyond her years.
Jarryd James was the next artist to take to the microphone and was nothing short of intoxicating. James was a surprising find and personified the ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ cliché. Walking onto the stage, James’ solid frame, with black snapback cap and grey tall tee, was misleading as he oozed smooth, sensual reverb-soaked falsetto over deep, intimate synthesisers coupled with strong beats similar to artists such as Àsgeir and James Blake. Not to be confused with plain awkwardness, James was rather reserved in his performance yet was still able to mesmerise his audience. This was only heightened by having his long-time best friend Matt Corby supporting him with keyboards and beautiful vocal harmonies. James’ set was the perfect warm-up for headliners Broods, and this artist should seriously be on everyone’s one-to-watch list.
Making the journey from across the pond, New Zealand duo Broods gave a special performance, transporting the audience to an ambient world of smooth, reverberant indie synth-pop perfection. Vocalist Georgia Nott was energetic, bouncing and jiving across the stage, working the crowd into a great ecstasy. With the exception of the band’s singles Bridges and Mother & Father, arguably the greatest moment of the duo’s set was a stripped, sombre, bare-bones cover of Empire Of The Sun’s We Are The People. Broods’ set was a great display of musical prowess, vocally, instrumentally and electronically, with a large array of the sounds coming from multi-instrumentalist Caleb Nott’s Ableton Live rig. This deliciousness culminated with the track Coattails and allowed the audience to leave the venue more than satisfied that they’d braved the cold weather.
