WashingtonHeralding their arrival with an a cappella traditional, All Our Exes Live In Texas (minus a usual fourth member) show the outstanding talent they possess for harmony. Channeling old Americana style (think O Brother, Where Art Thou? and twee dresses), the Sydney outfit are tight in performance and witty in banter. Across the set there features a piano accordian, ukulele and mandolin and the ever-present harmonies. The style is captured well but kept fresh with some unexpected arrangements and twists in writing. With just the right mix of raw talent and irreverent performance, they are a joy to watch.
The venue is beginning to fill to capacity as Hey Geronimo play and they seem nervous. The opening numbers plod, palatable due to the goodwill of the likeable '60s rock'n'roll vibe. The lukewarm set heats up with energy and tempo a few tracks in, and Girl Who Likes Me gets a few heads bobbing (although it feels like a lost punk song that found the wrong band and should be 20BPM faster). By the end of the set there are touches of fun and abandon, and brief moments when the band connects with the crowd, like I Got No Money and closer Why Don't We Do Something?.
Clementine is Megan Washington's first offering tonight, and it is oddly affecting. Performing it slower and with just her guitarist on stage, she turns vague nursery rhyme lyrics into meaning as she processes the words and plays with the melody: “I'm just running into something bigger than the something that I left behind.” She is enjoying her voice and her song like it is new to her, testing it out and feeling it all – to beguiling effect. The band joins the stage for new single Who Are You and premiering other '80s-influenced numbers. A few are big and ballad-y – Consolation Prize and Skyline – while others are more upbeat, but all have a vulnerability and directness in the lyrics that were previously shrouded in metaphor and bravado. Some Insomnia-era tunes (Skeleton Key, Mirror In The Mirror) and crowd favourites are there too (How To Tame Lions, The Hardest Part, Cement, Rich Kids); Washington looks genuinely tickled when a stripped-back Sunday Best becomes a crowd singalong. Between songs she is heartfelt (“When I saw you all lined up outside, I burst into tears”) then bawdy and cursing, promising to lick elbows at the merch desk and giving away her beer to an audience member. To Or Not Let Go, a new song about dating a model while living in England, and the beautiful Roland S Howard-penned Shivers, complete the encore.
