Live Review: Cameron Avery

It must be humbling as a performer to go from stadiums, festival headline slots and the Hottest 100 back to where you started, performing intimate pub gigs.

Cameron Avery of Tame Impala and Pond appeared, however, to take this in his stride. After all, it isn't really back to where he started. His audience had not only made the effort to come out, a number of them had also slavishly learned the lyrics from his recent solo release Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams.

Avery's outfit set the tone for the evening - the album is brooding and he had dressed to match, taking the stage in an ankle length trench coat.

The music was sparse. Musically, Avery relied on syncopation and rhythm, and alternated between duets with his guitar and a piano. His vocals were also sparse. In a soulful tones he sang simply about loves - loves lost, loves from the road, loves unrequited, loves frustrated, loves conquered. At times, the simplicity was earnest and brought out the best of Avery's rich and textured baritone. At other times, this simplicity, the repetitive themes and cyclical feelings became boring. 

As a performer Avery was grateful that his audience had invested themselves in his music and shows himself to be self-effacing on a number of occasions. During Wasted On Fidelity, Avery paused for effect as his character rushed out the door and away from another female friend in bed because "I got shows to stop and rolls to rock so I really must be going, babe". With a wink he poked fun at the distance from that lyric to his present situation.