Live Review: Joe Pernice & Norman Blake, Seja

Brisbane songstress Seja is normally synonymous with keyboards of some description – whether it be via the Casio tones she brought to Sekiden, her time spent pounding keys in Regurgitator or the synths and programmed beats of her beautiful 2010 solo album We Have Secrets But Nobody Cares – but tonight showcases an evolution in her performance style, whereby she primarily favours a combination of just acoustic guitar and her beguiling voice. There's a keyboard on stage but it seems more of a comforting affectation, only used sporadically; this new style suits her wonderfully, her airy vocals even transforming the usually guttural tones of the German language during Wir Haben Geheimnisse into pleasant listening. She opts for a left-of-field cover in the form of Justin Bieber and Sean Kingston's Eenie Meenie – which doesn't sound too grating in this context, although it draws plenty of blank stares – before inviting her old mates Tim and Mel (from The John Steel Singers and Little Scout respectively) to join her onstage for the closing track, the enthralling new number Call Me Wrong.

It's circumstance that brought American singer-songwriter J and his Scottish counterpart Norman Blake together – fate found them living in close proximity when they both relocated to Ontario, Canada to live – but tonight you wouldn't guess it from their easy rapport and the way that their distinct styles meld so effortlessly. They begin by trading verses on a cover of The Zombies' WWI epic Butcher's Tale, their voices meshing at the chorus as if joined by blood. They showcase a track from their brand new project The New Mendicants, I'll Follow You Down – complete with Blake on glockenspiel – before he takes the rein for the beautiful You Was Me (from his 2011 Jonny project). Blake then turns to his main concern Teenage Fanclub for obscurity Dark And Lonely, the pair now both on acoustic guitar – neither offering anything dramatic, but their nice tunings providing the perfect bed for the casual harmonies and vocal melodies on offer throughout the performance – as they move onto another new track, Out Of The Line. Pernice digs into his Pernice Brothers repertoire for the moving Amazing Glow, before they introduce Fanclub's Baby Lee as the first New Mendicants single, and Pernice takes the lead for the poignant Sarasota. Joe Pernice hasn't been in Brisbane for over a decade so hearing him delve into the Pernice Brothers' catalogue for Goodbye, Killer seems more endearing than it possibly might otherwise, and the reverent crowd is besotted as they hear Blake offer Fanclub faves It's All In My Mind and When I Still Have Thee, both sounding gorgeous in these stripped-back environs. The Scotsman takes glockenspiel duties once more as his comrade offers a touching There Goes The Sun. Pernice then casually telling punters, “If you don't like this song you've got no fucking souls” before Blake drops the evergreen Everything Flows, which Pernice counters with a solo rendition of Scud Mountain Boys' devastating Grudge Fuck, the pair like two evergreen boxers trading punches, the crowd the only clear winner. Finally the American takes to the egg shaker as his friend offers up Teenage Fanclub's I Don't Want Control Of You to complete an intoxicating set.

When they return for a stunningly appropriate shared rendition of The Go-Between's lush Finding You the only slight dampener is that the eternally debonair Robert Forster, who's been looking on for the duration, seems to have slipped out and perhaps missed this perfect finale to a genuinely special night.