Live Review: Holy Holy, Clews, San Mei

San Mei’s sweet vocals cascaded across the Metro, catching our attention. The indie-pop darling created a lush, swirling soundscape overlayed with pristine vocals to make dreamy tunes you couldn’t help but enjoy. The standout track was the glittery Heaven (produced by Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson).

Next up were sister duo Clews to shake us out of our daze with some guitar-driven indie-rock. They were confident performers who had quite a crowd to entertain and did not disappoint. The harmonies between the pair soaked through every song and created their point of difference, giving their tracks a folk tinge reminiscent of First Aid Kit, but with a bit more bite. This pair will likely be popping up on the radar again.

Holy Holy have cemented themselves as mainstays in the Aussie music scene and this run of shows is building anticipation for their third album, which is shaping up to be a fresh perspective if tonight was anything to go by.

Kicking off with You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog, Timothy Carroll’s soothing vocals reverberated around the theatre and the song’s hook instantly had us dancing. The band didn’t waste any time getting to the good stuff; the set was wall to wall favourites, following up the opener with That Message and Willow Tree.

However, the band had an agenda tonight and that was to showcase some new tracks. Playing groovy new track Faces, with the help of Clews providing the vocal loops, it's clear Holy Holy are developing their sound and moving out of their indie-rock corner. Two other newbies were showcased, and with Dawson’s slick production you can see them becoming hits.

The set highlight was a cover of Beyonce’s Hold Up, which they recorded for Like A Version, enlisting Clews again to provide that feminine edge. The whole theatre got their best Beyonce power moves and vocals on to this one, and the fact that Carroll can cover Beyonce is testament to his fantastic vocal range. This highlight was closely followed by certified banger True Lovers, which closed the set and had everyone collectively losing their shit; trying to get a video in for Instagram while having a boogie.

Cheering for an encore ensued and Holy Holy returned to the stage to treat us to older track History, reminding us that they still love a good guitar hook, before taking out the show with stellar track Darwinism.