Dianas/Erasers
The Bird
Saturday, May 23, 2015
A sizeable crowd gathered at The Bird on Saturday night for the long awaited return of Melbournian indie legends Love Of Diagrams. Carrying with them their long awaited new record Blast, the evening was orchestrated by mystery rabble rousers Semi-Decent, in collaboration with local label Pouring Dream and Brisbane’s venerable Bedroom Suck Records. As the first event that Semi-Decent have curated, and if it is any indication of what we might except to see in the future then Perth is in for a sweet treat.
DJs Mr Sinclair and Sandilands set the tone for the night, spinning ambient and house beats, before local minimalist drone duo, Erasers, took to the stage. Standing opposite each other, the multi instrumentalists Rebecca Orchard and Rupert Thomas, throw hypnotic beats and keyboard drones back and forth, gradually building intense webs of sound for Orchard’s vocals to glide over. Their set featured a mix of older material with distinctly funkier new songs, but the impact was the same; as the crowd fell into a trance like state.
Pulling the crowd out of their Erasers-induced reverie, Dianas got things pulsing with their guitar-pop tunes. Despite lying low as they work on new recordings, the local three-piece have long been Perth favorites, and it is always a captivating pleasure to see them live. The dreamy vocals of Nathalie Pavlovic and Caitlin Moloney transported the audience to a sweet land of dream pop, filled with beautiful weaving bass and guitar rhythms and punchy drum beats from John Lekias of Doctopus. Never ones to overstay a welcome, Dianas played a short set that kept their eager fans hungry for more.
However, Love Of Diagrams and their new record were the focal points of the night, and The Bird was bursting with eager fans to hear the long awaited and anticipated release. Having been making waves in the Australian indie scene and beyond since 2001, it was no surprise that the Bird had swelled to bursting by the time the Melbournians finally took the stage. Famed for their live shows, they did not disappoint, with Antonia Sellbach howling out complex melodies to match Luke Horton’s singularly angular guitarwork. Their set relied heavily on Blast, with relentless material like Double Negative setting a powerful, urgent tone. The fuzzy, distorted guitars, pounding drums, and back and forth vocals left my ears ringing, but it was worth it for the punishing, vivid shoegaze sound that’s hard to find in Perth.
Overall the night was a beautiful curation of drone, dream pop, and shoegaze with mesmeric female vocals weaved through each set. Semi-Decent have knocked it out of the park on their first hit, and I hope it’s just a taste of what’s to come for bringing over ambitious music from over East.
CAITLIN FRUNKS
