Live Review: Lost Animal, Lalic, Hot Action

Hot Action are opening the night as we walk into The Tote bandroom and are underwhelming. The sound is great, but the performance is lacking. Their sound is clearly influenced by the '80s. It picks up a little by the end, but just doesn't get people going.

Come 10pm, Lalic take the stage. Their singer bumbles about looking like he's had a few beers while the rest of the band look generally bored. Musically, it's middle of the road with nothing really coming across as noteworthy or even original. The band is technically proficient, but the fact they can play their respective instruments well isn't enough to hold the crowd's attention.

In certain circles, Lost Animal's Ex Tropical album has become an essential artefact and latest record You Yang has already been hailed as a worthy follow-up that is just as musically diverse if not more so. In the bandroom, droves arrive from outta nowhere, packing themselves in for the enigmatic Lost Animal. As the first track plays, it is hard to get any real vantage point. While staring at the sweaty back of the guy in front, the group sound amazing - clear as a bell and loud to boot. But when that sweaty man wanders outside for a cig, we note the 'group' on stage is just Jarrod Quarrell and his laptop.

One of the reasons why Lost Animal's music is so interesting is the diversity of sounds. It's a challenge to pull off live and Quarrell, on his own, aimlessly wandering around the stage is probably not what people expect.

Naturally, You Yang features heavily with almost the entire record getting an airing. Ex Tropical highlight Lose The Baby is the first track that gets a notable reaction from the audience. About halfway through, rather than swelter in the heat and risk beer spillage, a decent number of people bail and head outside to the smoking area. Keeping the door open, they treat this show more like a listening party and, in that context, it works pretty well. Lost Animal has always been a bit hit or miss live. Some will argue that Quarrell can do no wrong and, while some artists can pull off the karaoke-style performance, it's not good enough here.