Live Review: Tiny Little Houses, Noire, Tali

Flying solo with an electric guitar in hand, Melbourne darling Tali Mahoney bravely stood on stage in front of a sizable crowd to deliver an excellent set. Charming us with her witty and humorous lyrics, she struck a chord with the audience, who intently watched as she strummed her guitar in time with her smooth vocals. Mahoney’s delivery was confident, pop-driven, punchy and light-hearted — she’ll be one to watch. 

Sydney band Noire were up next, bringing us some moody, indie goodness. The balance was a bit out, meaning their set sounded quite bass-heavy, drowning out lead singer Jessica Mincher. This made it hard for us to discern what she was singing about, but we bopped along anyway, indulging in their lush, gloomy sound. They had a slight sense of arrogance about them, forgetting to thank Tiny Little Houses and the audience, but this just added to their moody feel. 

Here to launch their new tune Milo Tin, Tiny Little Houses jumped up on stage to treat us to steady-paced set of lo-fi tunes. Their sound was fuzzy, but had moments of clarity with sharp guitar riffs and Caleb Karvountzis’ whiny, twangy vocals cutting through. 

The set kept to a moderate tempo, which the audience quickly got restless with, starting to talk to one another instead of giving the band their attention. A much-needed tempo pick-up was delivered with Milo Tin, and an acoustic number broke up the monotony and really let Karvountzis’ vocals shine through. 

The band could have benefitted from having a shorter, punchier set, as variation was sparse and tempo changes minimal. However, airing Soon We Won’t Exist and You Tore Out My Heart appeased the audience. Finishing up with Easy got them a singalong, before everyone exited feeling slightly underwhelmed with their evening.