Live Review: Haitus Kaiyote, JAALA, Koi Child

One of the drawbacks of the Perth music scene is the lack of mid-sized venues. Sometimes you get acts that are popular enough to fill a band room but don't quite have the pull to fill a venue like Metro's. Hiatus Kaiyote seems to fall into this space. With the Rosemount quickly selling to capacity at their initial Saturday night show, a second show was quickly offered which proceeded to sell out as well.

On this night, Koi Child quickly took to the stage to an already half-filled room, the seven-piece hip hop/nu-jazz collective not wasting any time getting the crowd dancing. MC Shannon Cruz Patterson has a rapid-fire flow, which he delivered with a singer's knowledge of rhythm and harmony. This is complemented by the rest of the band, which provided a soulful stage for his multisyllabic rhymes. They're a band that always seems to be having fun and that positive vibe is radiated and amplified by the audience.

Melbourne indie/art-pop four-piece JAALA were up next, led by Cosima Jaala, whose vocal range varied from soft and almost child-like to powerful screams. This is a band that made use of dark and shade, soft and loud to paint stories of love, loss and vulnerability. Although they did seem a strange support act for this show playing as they did a much more down-tempo set, it closed with the entire crowd singing Happy Birthday to Cosima and the delivery of a bouquet of balloons.

Finally it was the Rosemount Hotel's turn to host an act that, in the last year, has played shows as varied as South By Southwest, Montreux Jazz Festival and Glastonbury. This is a band on a meteoric rise, having already receiving a Grammy nomination. Despite all these accolades, this reviewer was truly disappointed by the show. This is obviously a talented band; it just seemed that the separate parts didn't form a cohesive whole.

It's possible the underlying cause was poor mixing or acoustics on the part of the venue. The sound just didn't have the same impact as their albums promise. This, coupled with a very standoffish performance with little crowd interaction, made for a disappointing headliner. Hopefully this was just an off night and those attending the second show on Saturday evening got a different experience.