Live Review: The Harpoons, friendships, HABITS

Free popcorn dished up with the drinks sends a cinematic waft downstairs into the Shebeen Bandroom. A small crowd watches experimental electrio HABITS bouncing over the decks, pumping out unnerving, ethereal beats. Up next, audiovisual project friendships splash colourful projected graphics onto a carefully hung pyramid as they play tripped-out heavy electronica. The mullet-headed member of the duo shows off some nimble Elvis-style footwork while his platinum blonde partner applies passionate concentration to the dials. The bobbing and raving front rows clearly get into the experimental beats.
Here tonight to launch new single Unforgettable, The Harpoons let loose first up with the sunny and soulful Keep You Around and the smoldering Falling For You. Lead vocalist Bec Rigby immediately turns heads with her totally to-die-for voice. Looking all understated cool in a long grey skirt and op-shop tee, Rigby's soul diva pipes out her as more Diana Ross than hipster indie songstress.
Drummer Martin King steps out from behind the kit to debut a song he bravely admits he's terrified to share. A slow-burning R&B number dripping with feeling, Rigby joins in to create a successfully sultry duet ending with a much-relieved smile from King. Taking the energy straight back up with the funkier Walk Away, Rigby dedicates the song to all the strong ladies in the now-packed crowd who may need to do just that.
Things start getting messy with a new song debuted with a guest saxophonist, trumpet player and both HABITS and friendships brought back on stage armed with marimbas. With a dozen people now on stage, lead guitarist Jack Madin tries hard to keep order while trying to extract an a cappella chorus from the crowd. Fortunately, Ribgy backs it up with a charming debut performance of the catchy Unforgettable. This time, punters are happy to get lost in the moment softly singing, “If you come to me, it will be everything/I will be loving you, you will be loving me.” Pushing their luck way too far with the final song, people clearly lose interest in singing along to the chorus just one more time.
Although the show started far slicker than it ended, The Harpoons are a talented bunch with their very own superstar soul singer. With a touch more polish and professionalism, there's no reason they shouldn't get more serious attention.