Live Review: The Ocean Party, Totally Mild, Workshop

Workshop face each other on either side of their synthesisers, like opponents in a sonic game of chess.

The two girls wear complementing blue and green dresses and matching white headpieces that are equal parts space crowns and headbands. They push melodies out of the synths that would have been considered futuristic in the ‘80s, but now sound like the soundtrack to some excellent B-grade science fiction film. These sounds are laid over a relentless foundation of bass, like UFOs flying over crop fields.

You can guess the rough age of Totally Mild simply by their name. The Melbourne band live up to that name, but in all the best ways possible. The quartet delivers songs that are short, sweet and digestible. However, the lengthier tunes take time to settle into gentle grooves. There’s humour and warmth in lead singer Elizabeth Mitchell’s voice, whose suburban poetry is the perfect warm-up for tonight’s headlining act.

The Ocean Party take to the stage and there’s still only a small crowd in the room. It’s a shame, because the boys are sounding in good form as they open with Deluded. “I haven’t changed much, but I’ll never be the same,” guitarist Liam Halliwell sings, and it’s an apt line to describe the group’s new album. The Melbourne sextet are still writing introspective odes to adolescence, but have fleshed out their music with much more instrumentation.

The band share around vocal duties so it’s not long before drummer Zac Denton is singing last year’s album highlight, Split. They stick to material from their last two albums, which is both a sign that those are the songs they’re most proud of and that they can recognise progress in their own process.

Halliwell is back on vocals for Every Decision and is letting out “whoops” at every chorus. It’s unclear whether the Springsteen references are because he wants the band to let loose a little more or that he’s just excited as this is the last show of the tour. The music these boys make has always suggested they were born to walk at a leisurely pace rather than run, but there’s no telling where the next album will take them.

The evening does get slightly rockier as Lachlan Denton sings Head Down, which is unfortunately missing its ripping saxophone solo. Hopefully in the future this will be an addition to their sets. All hands seem to be busy on deck as it is, with the three guitarists layering melodies on Quarter Life Crisis. Zac’s new song, Snake Rider, obviously takes concentration and he congratulates himself for the precision of his drumming tonight. The band seems to be enjoying the feeling of the final show as they finish with Wading In.