Live Review: Jonah Matranga, Let Me Down Jungleman, Achoo! Bless You, Billy Demos, Nick Van Breda

Perched in a corner presiding over the merch desk, Jonah Matranga, fresh off a plane from San Francisco, chatted away happily to fans and took song requests for his headlining set while the support acts warmed up the crowd. Matranga is very much a DIY kind of artist and the Sando band room had a very lounge-room show vibe to it as Nick Van Breda kicked things off.

A social worker by trade, Nick Van Breda used his acoustic guitar and a voice full of character to weave delicate observational tales. With his relaxed banter drawing the audience into the songs, Van Breda deserved to be much higher on this bill.

Early on Billy Demos confessed a bout of nerves, playing on a bill with one of his heroes but his voice was confident and assured. Its strong, husky tones and the addition of the earthy tones of a foot drum weren't quite able to lift the set above the fairly pedestrian songwriting.

Achoo! Bless You were very accomplished, the harmonies were spot on and the bass rumbled along with a gentle swagger but they seemed an odd choice to have on this bill. The country flavour of their rootsy-rock was a bit too relaxed for the heartfelt emotion of the straight-up acoustic guitar songwriting of Matranga, but even so, they were more at home than the garage-y fuzz of Let Me Down Jungleman.

Reminiscent of current UK buzz bands like The Vaccines, Let Me Down Jungleman may have been the odd band out, but they didn't let that dampen their exuberance and there was definitely potential in their three-part harmonies and scuzzy indie.

It didn't take headliner Jonah Matranga long to settle into his rhythm. Though he sometimes added recorded percussion to his acoustic guitar, the music was really just the vehicle to deliver the words and Matranga's spent a lot of time playing shows in all manner of places and delivering these songs about capturing the important things in life (Livin' Small, Over It). He certainly knew best how to deliver them. Security came in to wind up his set as licensed closing time approached, but he'd already played some 45 minutes before then, so fans still got their money's worth.

As a DIY artist Matranga doesn't make it to Australia very often, but when he does, he really knows how to put on a show.