Live Review: Mt Mountain, The Dunes, The Howling Fog

The Grace Emily Hotel, or should we say the award-winning Grace Emily Hotel, is just the perfect venue for an intimate gig and these were the perfect surroundings for locals The Howling Fog, the first of three bands on tonight's bill.

The Howling Fog's combination of psych and shoegaze filled the room thanks to Peter Blunden's hauntingly beautiful vocals. Their debut four-track EP was released at the tail end of 2017 and is a soundscape of atmospheric psych-rock layered over fuzz.

Next up was another local band called The Dunes. They've been haunting Adelaide venues with their psych-drone-shoegaze since 2011 when they released their Going Under EP. Though it's a cosy stage at The Grace, the six members Tetris-ed themselves on it quite well, including guitarist Matt Reiner, who clocks in around the six-foot-six mark. The band glided through their '60s-inspired mix of fuzzy bass and haunting guitar lines. Add to this the sea of pedals and heavily reverbed vocals, and it was easy to get lost in the wall of bliss.

Hailing from Perth were the headline act, neo-psych rockers Mt Mountain. They've come off a productive year with a national tour and a string of sold-out shows, plenty of radio airplay and an ambitious-yet-brilliant concept album called Dust. Since forming in 2012, Mt Mountain have been heavily admired in Australia where they have built a reputation as a compelling live band. Not believing in the tradition of a three-minute pop music, the title track comes in at an incredible 17 minutes and it's a build-up of brooding, dark psychedelic connotations that slowly filled the room before things really kicked off at the nine-minute mark. Some punters weren't ready for it and actually jumped with fright. Cathedral is their brand new track and has more of an upbeat vibe for a band better known for their drone sound. The crowd nodded along in unison to the driving rhythm. 

Unfortunately, the night had to end. Once the final note was struck, the punters just stood there for a few seconds before applauding. We were in a total mind fuzz and needed a few seconds to take it all in.