Live Review: Hungry Kids Of Hungary, The Preatures, Them Swoops

Bathed in an ocean blue light, Them Swoops emerged onto the stage, maraca and synth board at the ready. Soon the sparse crowd began the migration to the front as the group broke out Too Fast For Love, bringing out the knee bop-bop dancing and the head nodding, while new song, Holiday, erupted with its intro like some Caribbean airport tune that's been raided and ransacked by pounding drums. Their tunes are like songs that have been painted with a brush dipped in the lush beach sun; fun and oh so warm.

The Preatures and their '60s-inspired atmospheric rock sent a buzz through the venue. After finally fixing several feedback issues, lead singer Isabella Manfredi's apathetic but lusciously sexy vocals blanketed the place, hypnotising the crowd with her effortlessly easy energy. The mood was broken by the manic, angry sound of fellow vocalist Gideon Bensen, which shook you out of whatever reverie you were in. Together, Bensen and Manfredi create some new kind of witchcraft, her flirty, pleading sounds jarring against his smashing and swagger. But holy shit, does it work.

Finally, the boys from the Hungry Kids Of Hungary strode on in through thick white '90s school-disco-esque smoke amidst a static drum light that kept neurotically flashing like some injured neon sign. Lead singer Dean McGrath shook up the ether of the place, before the heavy deep thud of the electric guitar-induced Sharp Shooter blasted out and the keyboard-focused Kane Mazlin took over the mic. The charismatic pairing for McGrath and Mazlin as leads is like watching two heads on one body; the pair are so totally in sync, especially when they're flirting with the crowd, bringing out the teenage girl screams in just about everyone. Their buzzy, fuzzy New Pornographers-inspired sound was everything the hipster-heavy crowd could have dreamed of tonight.