Live Review: Owl Eyes, Collarbones, Mammals

Sydney's indie folk collective Mammals gently warmed up the early crowd with their soothing vocals that conjured up comparisons to the likes of Bon Iver and local band Georgia Fair. Heartfelt lyrics and beautifully played guitar caught the audience's attention with tracks including Move Slower and a new one written for a friend who recently passed away.

In jarring contrast, electronic duo Collarbones raised everyone's heart rates with their eclectic mix of pop samples, rapping and r'n'b singing that can only be described as Flume meets Boyz II Men. Singer Marcus Whale danced and gyrated against his mic while producer Travis Cook limbered up behind his laptop sporting a fluoro cap and matching peace sign necklace, clearly inspired by their love of all things '90s.

A full room welcomed the stunning Owl Eyes to the stage, complete with a backup band in matching black and white polkadot shirts. Her new album's title track, Nightswim, started off the set as the crowd swayed in unison to singer Brooke Addamo's ethereal vocals and floating moves. Further new tracks followed, giving the album its first live rendition in Sydney. She picked up the pace with solid performances of Hurricane, Diamonds In Her Eyes and Love Run Dry, although a touch more volume on the vocals would have really been a benefit.

After what seemed like an eternity of technical issues (and mainly silence from the stage), the band was back with track Crystalised and noticeably more energy, which really lifted the rest of the performance. A sneaky little cover of Armand Van Helden's You Don't Know Me mixed into Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You was a real treat before the band finished off the set with Saltwater and a cracking version of Golden Lies.

Only a brief encore ensued, due to all of the time lost on technical issues, so the crowd were given the choice of hearing just one more track – Raiders or Closure. Raiders was the all-out favourite and a solid performance to finish an unfortunately less than perfect set.