Live Review: Mansionair, Vera Blue

Celia Pavey lets her long fiery red hair flow and her stunning vocals soar. Tonight she's performing together with her band for a new side project Vera Blue. It’s definitely a departure from her folk sound and lot more electronic than what we’ve previously heard. It’s a great fit for Pavey and she’s a shining free spirit full of life.

After a couple of impressive original songs including Settle and Turn she reaches the pivotal track Fingertips, where she says the shift in her newfound music direction all began. She asks the shy audience to move forward and we gladly oblige to get a bit closer and connected to feel the music. It suddenly becomes a bit less standoffish and a bit more intimate just in time for a slower pace acoustic cover of Broods' Bridges, followed by very entrancing Florence + The Machine-esque number titled Patterns. Their recent release Hold is an ethereal delight that takes us into a wonderland of whimsical harmonies and glittering sound effects.

Mansionair hooks us in to their immersive indie-electronic sound right away. They deliver a perfect blend of instrumentations and sound effects to lift us up and send us floating into their atmospheric dream-like soundscape. Their new single Pick Me Up is a heartfelt ballad with breathtaking vocals from lead singer Jack Froggart. We all get caught up in the intense emotional build-up and they even break a few drumsticks in the heat of the moment. 

It's been a big year for the guys and tonight is their 75th show of 2015 so it's only fitting that they are finishing up right back where they started in Melbourne. They give us their stellar triple j Like A Version cover of Future Islands' Seasons (Waiting On You) delivered with a uniquely crafted slower pace. They confess that Speak Easy took the longest to write but they have perfected it over time. It’s worth the wait and even better to hear in a live setting with layers of soothing synths and guitar hooks, combined with the most delicate falsetto.

The sold-out crowd chants for one more song after braving through the hot and sweaty night. Instead, they decide to give us two more, rounding out with a new song they call Shadows and their biggest tune, Hold Me Down, to celebrate what they declare is their best show of the year.