Live Review: Ghost Notes, Faspeedelay, The Scrapes, Pale Earth

With static, minimal beats and an apocryphal drone bleeding out of the speakers, Pale Earth opens the night via confusion, in that his set evokes a dream-state where the realms of fantasy and reality are blurred. When the beats become more insistent, his heavily reverbed vocals come into play, floating over the mix in a sun-bleached haze. These scorched, dubbed-out dreamscapes are augmented by Luke McCallum on trumpet and Cam Smith on drums, offering improvised lashings of colour that haunt as well as flourish.

Keeping the loose meandering as a common thread, instrumental duo The Scrapes have freed up their schizophrenic guitar/violin duelling match for something more akin to a krautrock mind-bender. After their first couple of tracks, they incorporate Brock on drums, an animated skinsman who serves to push the music into another realm and energise the others. Adam is intent on killing his strings, each loop created becoming more jagged, whilst Ryan on the bass swings from metronomic to destructive. This is the most fun that can be had from killing the music – an absolute gem.

Melbourne trio faspeedelay are an interesting prospect in that their bare-bones instrumental approach belies the post-rock connotations that could be pushed in their direction, focusing instead on creating heftier, intricate variations of tradition pop rhythms and standards. The rhythm section is key here, allowing the guitarist to court distortion and feedback with wilful abandon. At times the sound suffers from said noise disappearing into the mix, but the band overall is tight, offering more frenetic rock than many would have expected without embracing psych overdrives or quiet/loud dynamics.

A year from its airing and finally Ghost Notes have their excellent debut record, By Cover By Night, out on beautiful vinyl, and are celebrating this milestone with an all-too-rare full live set. The band are a remarkable beast to see in full swing, so intricate and busy without losing focus. McCallum's trumpet is the focal point, but all members take charge at some point – Owen Dengate's commanding presence on guitar, Jamie Curran's stately keys and the off-kilter rhythms of Cam Smith and Simon James all impress. There are some new songs aired (they have two new albums almost in the can) and the lack of a setlist (“this show is like a microcosm of our rehearsals,” Smith quips) only adds to the immediacy. The elegant Last Call and the enigmatic Man Takes A Walk In The Desert are highlights in what is a fantastic live performance by one of Brisbane's most unheralded acts.