Live Review: Dustin Tebbutt, Jesse Davidson, Caitlin Park

The final show of Dustin Tebbutt's Home tour at Rosemount Hotel commenced with the soft, husky vocals of support act Caitlin Park. Armed with only her vocals and acoustic guitar, she set the gig down with a carefree demeanour brought upon by breezy lyrics. A highlight of her set was a performance of the track I Am A Night Bird, which with its simplistic drumbeat and raw acoustic melodies brought out something honest about her music, an almost musical reassurance by way of her carefree vocals.

Jesse Davidson brought ethereal qualities to the venue, with small dabs of reverb and lightly placed arpeggios giving his performance a minimalistic quality. Burgeoning bluesy undertones pervaded his music, painting emotive qualities from contemplation to anger. Cross-legged punters were attentively taking in his music and kicking back. A touching track was Lagoon, which created an edging sense of sombreness. Laika brought about some stripped back groove to the set, with a more upbeat drum beat and colourful vocals from Davidson. The close of the set involved Davidson bursting into a flurry of bluesy anger, topping off his performance.

The tone of Dustin Tebbutt's performance could be described as transitional if related to musical direction, with a mixture of his old and new tracks being played. Even the song titles themselves suggested a distinct change in musical direction. The start of his set included songs Where I Find You and Brighter Than The Sun, which gave a mix of both old and new. A highlight of his performance was a cover of Peter, Bjorn & John's Young Folks, with his vocals making for a softer, slower approach to the track. New single Home gave a taste of Tebbutt's new sound, with delicately sampled melodies and his distinct heavily reverbed vocals creating a cocoon-like atmospheric quality to his performance. Wolves Are Waiting and The Breach gave the punters something familiar to listen towards to the close of the set, evoking a mixture of emotions which could only be determined by the listener. Illuminate wrapped up the set nicely, filling the venue space with pulses of reverb and familiar acoustic tones, allowing the unique vocals of Tebbutt to stay in the minds of the punters for a long time to come. Tebbutt's solid performance reassured fans with a sense of familiarity, but also the excitement of something fresh.