Live Review: Milk! Records Residency: Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Tiny Ruins

Since we last visited for Milk! Records' first residency series in 2017, Coburg RSL has implemented eftpos although the antique scales remain in the ladies bathroom.

Brand new Milk! signing Tiny Ruins commences with the bewitching Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens. Auckland-bred Hollie Fullbrook explains Tiny Ruins usually roll as a four-piece but perform as "a special two-piece" incarnation this evening - rounded out by bassist Cass Basil - although their gentle-but-rapid finger picking suggests there's an ensemble of guitarists up there. Tiny Ruins then deliver One Million Flowers. Fullbrook admits she's a longtime Milk! Records fan, has previously seen photos of these events and as such is thrilled to be opening this evening's proceedings. 

The appeal of a mystery line-up cannot be underestimated and having clocked both Courtney Barnett and Jen "Sholaki" Sholakis watching Tiny Ruins' entire set from the stairwell, we're pretty sure Jen Cloher will be making an appearance on stage. The aforementioned trio eventually files out, together with bassist supreme Bones Sloane, much to the delight of all present. The power of Cloher's latest self-titled set cannot be denied. After she belts out the blistering Forgot Myself, a nearby punter, "YEUW!"s before his mate extols, "Yeah, it's a good song!" Seeing Cloher's partner Courtney Barnett up there beside her, supplying shimmering guitar parts and singing BVs during songs largely written about her ("I guess I'm never gonna be/The Joy to your Slim Dusty") feels intensely personal. 

Cloher expresses her delight in Milk!'s latest signing, Tiny Ruins, lavishing praise on the Fullbrook vehicle's upcoming third record, Olympic Girls.

As punters lean against a wall and nod their heads in time to the tunes, a framed "The Spirit Of ANZAC" map sways precariously during Analysis Paralysis. Cloher and co have been touring her last record internationally and this collection of world-class musicians blow us away. Barnett takes Tim Rogers' vocal parts on Stone Age Brain, the duet Cloher recorded with the You Am I frontman for a Milk! Records Compilation 10" vinyl, and the register perfectly suits her smoky timbre. Cloher's lyrics are so crucial and they're delivered with suitable vitriol, "We're all from Down Under/Where no one hears our thunder" - although we could've sworn she substituted "from" with "FUCKED!" for maximum impact tonight.

As leftover streamers billow from air vents, we hustle closer to the stage suspecting Courtney Barnett is our headliner since we spied her drummer Dave Mudie milling about near the soup station earlier. YAS! Right again. This trio of match-fit legends - Barnett, Sloane and Mudie - get the hero's welcome they deserve. "This next song's about depression!" is how Barnett introduces Charity and her observational lyrics such as, "Everyone else is just as terrified as you," ring true. The gentler Need A Little Time sashays in before intensifying thanks to a wailing guitar solo and punchy drums. More inspirational lyrics rise to the surface: "You seem to have the weight of the world/Upon your bony shoulders, well hold on/You need a little time out."

Shortly after commencing Small Poppies, Barnett inquires, "Is everyone ok?" Hell, yeah! Probably just a little in awe. How have The CB3 somehow managed to get even better!? Just. Wow. These three players play so symbiotically, it's like they can tell what's about to happen and anticipate deviations. A legend of a bussie pushes right down the front to collect glasses. Barnett's raucous, exasperated delivery, "An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye," leads into a perfectly demented guitar solo. 

"You're amazing!" A chick yells out. We all agree and Barnett chuckles before humbly uttering, "Thank you". 

"GET YER GEAR OFF!" hollers another female punter. Scattered "no"s and general sounds of disapproval. Then a dude makes it about him by shouting, "I didn't say that!"

Barnett professionally ignores this commotion, instead choosing to introduce "her two second-best friends"/fabulous bandmates. But, seriously, what is wrong with people!? We're left with nasty aftershocks and can't stop thinking about this crude interruption well beyond Barnett's next song, Depreston. Sloane and Mudie commence An Illustration Of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York) while Barnett tunes her guitar and we admire their mastery. She rhymes "movies" with "smoothies" - genius lyricism.

Nameless, Faceless will forever be associated with Eurydice Dixon's tragic murder due to its portentous line, "I wanna walk through the park in the dark". I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch follows and is a brutal outburst. Pedestrian At Best? Au contraire. Barnett tells us they learnt Aqua Profunda! today so that they could play it for their friend Davis who requested it a while ago, but they couldn't play it back then because they didn't know it. Barnett conjures a cheer for Cloher, thanks us for coming out "on a school night" and then the trio close with Avant Gardener.

But we're still thinking about that lewd heckle. One would think an event such as this would be dickhead-free. Make it stop.