Live Review: Charge Group - Beetle Bar

Winter is attempting to crash the party, yet the cozy confines of the Beetle Bar ensure that it is the perfect evening to partake in some of Australia's more eclectic musical offerings. Local five-piece The Clues open up the night, launching their new single, Occupied, to boot, and they are in raucous form, gravitating from the atmospheric pop of Nine Years to the tropically-inclined jangle of a new track they recorded for the QUT 100 Songs project. The quintet particularly impresses with their precision and musical finesse, and they finish with Flights, leaving their raucous fans suitably sated.

Ex-Snowman leader Joe McKee is up next, and his brand of hushed, eloquent majesty seems ill-suited to the largely unappreciative crowd. McKee struggles to create the intimacy and immersive atmosphere that the material from his Burning Boy record demands, and whilst his set is awash with beauty and fragility, backed on occasion by violinist Jason Tampake, it's a shame he isn't able to capture these sonorous heights tonight. Hopefully McKee will be back soon under his own banner so that his material can find a more enthusiastic audience.

Bursting forth from the ashes of Purplene, Charge Group have forged a rock sound that is equally energising and cinematic in scope. The three remaining members – Matt Blackman, Adam Jesson and Matt Rossetti – remain an indelibly tight unit, their dynamic interplay augmented by the addition of the aforementioned Tampake on violin. Focusing primarily on their latest eponymous album, the quartet work through a taut set that bounces ebbs and flows from sonic aggression to tempered vulnerability with grace and precision. The feverish instrumentals inherent in Search Party and single, Run, is breathtaking, the urgent sonic dynamics by turns audacious and electric. This is juxtaposed by the effervescence of Broken Sunlight and the occasional psychedelic meandering, yet such undulating scope is woven together beautifully by the band's innate knowledge of each other's strengths. Blackman is an affable frontman, clearly pleased with the response to their new material, and responds in kind, often writhing behind his guitar, and the grin such a performance elicits is infectious. Finishing with the soaring epic, The Gold Is Gone, Charge Group leave no stone unturned in providing a set bursting with glistening highlights.