Live Review: Sugar Army, Emperors, Fait Accompli

Fait Accompli set a cracking pace as the opening act of this under-rated bill. The Sydney trio built rich, tonal undercurrents into the bang and crash of their post-punk. Drummer Skarlett Saramore seemed to build up reserves of power like a solar panel, launching into breathtakingly aggressive runs that would launch her counterparts at the front of the stage into increasingly epic sonic explorations.

Emperors tipped their hat to a whole history of fuzzy, guitar indie bands from Pixies and Pavement to Ash and Jimmy Eat World, without sounding at all derivative. Though the group would've benefitted from Adam Livingston's vocals sitting further back in the mix, there was a sugar-spun sweetness when Zoe Worall-Jones would step up to the mic to provide backing vocals.

Sugar Army are now a five-piece and the extra layer that the keys and sometimes another guitar added to the band was ably demonstrated by this pitch perfect set. Giving their old songs a whole new sound, either speeding them up or tightly packing them with a wash of instrumentation, placed them well within the newer songs from latest album Summertime Heavy. More than just an arbitrary collection of songs, this was a set built to convey a very particular mood. Not a sound was wasted and singer Patrick McLaughlin's vocals blended into the swirling indie rock.

Tongues In Cheeks, when it came late in the set, was the moment when the band really let things open out and it was thrilling to watch a group so in synch. It would seem the band's recent line-up changes have only enhanced their live set.