Live Review: Daughter, Little Green Cars

Kicking off the Splendour sideshow frivolity in harmonious, a cappella style were Irish indie rockers Little Green Cars. Totally pared down to vocals and occasional acoustic guitar accompaniment, the five-piece certainly opened their set inauspiciously. After several gospel-country numbers, the band did prove their mettle by going full electric band mode, rocking through their debut album more or less in full, including triple j favourite, The John Wayne. The early stripped-back numbers seemed like an entirely different band to the warmly-received indie pop rock numbers that followed. The band were at their best allowing their PJ Harvey-reminiscent female vocalist to front the songs, which made her few leading appearances more valued and all the more frustrating within the overall event.

Though from their hushed and shimmering opening it was clear that this was Daughter's evening. Ostensibly playing in support of their beautiful debut album, If You Leave, the trio, joined by an additional touring guitarist, wasted no time in proving their dream pop worth. Though it's easy to see the band as the vehicle for vocalist Elena Tonra, the lush and all-encompassing swell of the instrumentation on stage showed that Daughter is truly a band effort. The interplay between sounds, particularly those of the lead guitarist and Tonra's rhythm guitar, is partly an exclusively live effort. The group's debut record, most of which received a play through, was actually rendered somewhat bland by the living, beautiful reality of the band in the flesh. Cello bow-played guitar and countless pedal manipulations created an effortlessly gorgeous soundscape for Tonra's melancholic vocals. Daughter's trademark booming, building crescendo-prepping drum beats, exemplified on set highlights Tomorrow and landmark single, Youth, helps separate the band from countless other 21^st century indie dream pop acts.

A simple and gorgeous cover of Daft Punk's Get Lucky rounded out the short encore to gracious applause. Daughter are not the world's most miraculously innovative or ground-breaking act, but with shows like this, they're likely to become an indispensable figure of the current pop music landscape.