Live Review: Tulalah, Mayfair Kytes

“Woo! Let’s get this five-man party started,” laughs the lead singer of Mayfair Kytes, Matthew Kelly. Instantly, Mayfair Kytes impress us all with their three-way harmonising, (think Mumford & Sons) and draw us in with their slow, acoustic sound. “We’re playing as a trio tonight. We normally have a full band. They died,” Kelly says dryly and there’s much laughter from the room. Despite the absence of two band members, Mayfair Kytes keep it together, pulling out some slow-dance jams and a few upbeat, poppy tracks. Among all the bad jokes from the band, over-enthusiastic whoops from the bartender and a smashed glass stealing the show mid-set (decidedly the most rock’n’roll moment of the evening), Mayfair Kytes woo us with their debut single Seasonal Thaw, utilising clapping and tapping to make up for a lost drummer. They finish up to loud applause from the audience.

The beats we all catch while moving back inside The Worker’s Club’s bandroom are exceptional and warm us up nicely (prompting shoulder-bopping), for headliners Tulalah. Tulalah take to the stage to murmurs of “a cello and a saxophone?” leaving some of us confused as to how there can be so many instruments on stage among seven band members. Starting off with what can best be described as music that would perfectly back an intense action movie, the room comes to a standstill as Bridie Cotter’s sultry vocals cut through the band’s orchestral sounds. The impact is immediate and we’re all enchanted for a moment.

Displaying excellent harmonising skills and multi-instrumentalism, Tulalah remain mostly still on stage, but the music speaks for itself – to dance would be out of place. Mid-set, Tulalah debut their single, Selma – it stuns with its big, sweeping brass section married into Cotter’s sexy-yet-innocent vocals. Girls are swooning all over the room, with an excitedly whispered chorus of, “That was amazing!” afterwards. Next there’s a change in the line-up: four of the seven members take over vocals, sweeping into a large, ground-moving finish that attracts massive applause to match.