Live Review: Patrick James, The Starry Field, The Phoncurves

With just sampled harmonies, simple beats and one acoustic guitar between them, duo The Phoncurves show what can be done with so little. The clear drawcard is their voices: pure and sweet, gorgeous either solo or entwined together. The stripped back folk songs are adeptly written, if at times a little impersonal. The more unexpected compositional elements of later songs, like the percussive Dearest and tempo-shifting single Heartstrings, show a little more identity. The between-song banter is adorable and the girls are endearingly awkward, in an amusing contrast to their enchantingly precise performances.
The Starry Field are rugged and blokey tonight, a surprising departure from the polished sound of their debut album. On pared back numbers If All Your Troubles Were A Sea and Nowhere To Me, frontman Mark Myers channels The Tallest Man On Earth. Subtlety then takes a backseat with the band on stage, to both great effect and poor. While sadly the candid lyrics of My Family Bones are obscured, the menacing energy of the band is weighty and electrifying. Myers' ever-present Australian accent comes across as disarmingly honest, and his stage presence mirrors his music: deceptively detached until closer attention reveals a wicked sense of humour and complexity. Closer All Of My Love is played a little fast, but loses none of its jauntiness, or its heartbreaking vulnerability.
From the first note, the sold out crowd is transfixed by Patrick James. His voice is arresting, beautiful and soulful, and mature for someone so young. At just 21 years, it is clear James is already a polished performer, and well supported by his band. The harmonies are simply divine, evoking the ethereal and lush sound of Local Natives. After he and his guitarist have swapped between acoustic, electric and banjo, James takes to the piano for ballad Kings And Queens. It's a weaker part of the set, with much punchier songwriting displayed later. The banter is light-hearted and cheeky, with All About To Change introduced as the 'sex scene song' from television's Wonderland. Bugs is a crowd favourite, as is the surprisingly cohesive cover of Justin Timberlake's Mirrors. The set highlight is Running Cold, performed around one microphone, James on guitar and the others huddled around to harmonise. It is a magical moment, broken only by an ill-timed bottle smash from an otherwise attentive audience. A Freudian slip of 'thanks, this has been the breast... best Brisbane show' introduces the final song, single Wait. The song disappointingly ends just as we glimpse a new, grittier colour creeping into the set, but the crowd don't mind and we are treated to an encore from one the country's finest new songwriters.