Live Review: The Laurels, Shiny Joe Ryan, Gum

Mojos is a great venue for seeing upcoming national acts. Usually the next time you see them your ticket costs double and you think wistfully back to the good ol' Mojos days. Cue last Saturday when The Laurels played their second ever show in Perth on Saturday night, it was easy to see that soon this band is going to be everywhere.

Gum opened the night's proceedings with Jay Watson (Tame Impala, Pond)'s surprisingly soulful tunes. Whilst admitting to being ill-prepared, Watson's '70s-inspired tunes hit the spot.

Shiny Joe Ryan featured Pond's Joe Ryan with a full ensemble including Peter Bibby (Frozen Ocean) on drums. The band had the sizeable crowd bopping along and lapping up the upbeat tunes that somehow manage to combine psychedelica and country to awesome effect.

The venue was nice and cosy by the time Sydney's The Laurels unloaded their luscious sound on the crowd. Here to release their debut album Plains, the band have come a long way from vocal/guitarists Luke O'Farrell and Piers Cornelius meeting on a The Vines forum nearly a decade ago. Cornelius's dreamy vocals and laid-back playing style was complemented by O'Farrell's rockier voice and twitchy guitar. Each song was well-crafted and the four-piece were so sonically in tune with each other that it was easy to find yourself languidly shoegazing before being blasted awake by Kate Wilson's fearsome drumming. The group appeared shy with not even a word being muttered to the audience. This didn't seem to faze anyone, with the crowd loudly showing their appreciation at the end, shouting for an encore that unfortunately was denied. Do yourself a favour and buy a copy of Plains. Seeing as a quarter of the band (Cornelius) is from Perth, let's claim them as our own.