Live Review: Morning Harvey, Sans Parents, Sawtooth

On the eve of the weekend before BIGSOUND, The Foundry has put together a neat little line-up to tease punters into what the next gigantic week will hold.

The venue fills in slowly to the solitary figure of Sawtooth frontman Aidan Moore, whose normal collective is absent for tonight's show. Moore delights us all with a few raw acoustic renditions and seems more than comfortable alone on stage, when halfway through his set, he is joined on stage by members of sister band Moses Gunn Collective, Samuel Sargent and Lewis Stephenson. They punch out a few more songs to the growing crowd as the energy in the room starts to buzz, and eventually disperse. It hardly seems like an hour has passed.

The bands load on and off stage quickly, with the comfort and banter to match as it becomes apparent that all the players tonight are good friends, known to share members and a few drinks on a regular basis. Sans Parents are up on stage and ready to play in no time at all. They fill the room with jumpy, catchy beats and eclectic guitar movements, with a sound this writer has never experienced before. It's hard to nail down exactly what sound they are aiming for, but regardless, the band is having fun and so is the crowd. At one point, they introduce us to their new drummer, who has done the amazing feat of learning all their songs in only two days. He flashes us a cheeky grin as they head straight into songs from their new EP, The Dead End, which they launch tonight.

Up next is highlight of the night Morning Harvey. As soon as they start to play, numbers in the smokers' areas and bar start to dwindle as everyone packs into the room, and we can see frontman Spencer White dancing around on stage as he delivers us hit after hit. The band has a real '80s Bowie vibe to them, with groovy keyboard notes and fat, trembling bass lines. The collective features some different members tonight. Stephenson, who played earlier in Sawtooth, appears in the crowd instead of on stage, with local music fan and member of The Jensens, Nathan Kendall taking his place. Also appearing for the first time is another guitarist, whose name was lost over the noise of the venue. Both newcomers are a delight to watch, their energy like electricity on stage as the collective move and perform like a single being, and they power through new single Susanne Monday. They've certainly done it justice.