Live Review: Mew, Closure In Moscow, Aerials

Decked out in matching black outfits, Brissy trio Aerials bring big riffs and big energy to kick off the evening's entertainment at The Triffid.

Clearly appreciative of their early Sunday night audience, the band tear through a set of material both familiar and new, trying out some fresh songs alongside tracks from their 2015 EP, Restless, and its 2013 predecessor, Firefights. They close out with the creeping build of stalwart favourite No More Nights, a soaring, fittingly theatrical finish for the local three-piece, especially given the make-up of tonight's bill.

Closure In Moscow are renowned for their considerable technical proficiency and dynamic wizardry, and they bring both in spades to tonight's affair. Now just over a decade into their career together, the band have evolved into an incredibly tight unit, nailing their spasmodic shifts and stop-start rhythms with ugly-dance-inducing flair and precision. Frontman Christopher de Cinque is all charisma, his vocal acrobatics and wild movements straight out of the Cedric Bixler-Zavala School Of Crazy-Ass Singers. They're not afraid to try a couple of firsts — we're treated to a song that's never been played live before, de Cinque remarking, "If we do fuck it up, it's just jazz" — but keep their established fans happy with older favourites such as Deluge (which earns a cheer at the mere mention of its name) and A Night At The Spleen. They leave us on a particularly danceable note with the spirited Happy Days before departing to make way for the evening's main event.

And what a main event it is: Danish alt/indie/art-rock legends Mew, here in Australia for only the second time in their storied career, with new album Visuals in tow. The album was constructed around the visual art and animations of frontman Jonas Bjerre, so, appropriately, most of tonight's songs — even their older material — are accompanied by variably atmospheric and psychedelic projections playing behind the band.

Opening with In A Better Place, Mew immediately earn the adoration of the audience with their world-class musicianship, magnifying the love in the room when they dip into the stellar one-two punch of old favourites Special and The Zookeeper's Boy. Next tune Satellites — the opening cut from 2015's +- — is complemented by a screen of stars and nebulae, before the kaleidoscope of Candy Pieces All Smeared Out washes over us. The band's utterly note-perfect, career-spanning set dips both into 2009's No More Stories... (Introducing Palace Players) and 2003's seminal album Frengers (Snow Brigade, which coaxes a clap-along effort from the crowd) before returning to their newer material with Twist Quest. The arguable highlight of the night — the frantic, dramatic Apocalypso — follows (along with a coda run-through of Saviours Of Jazz Ballet), with a cinematic accompaniment of a hectic night-run through a forest and featuring snarling, swirling wolves before pulling back to close their main set with the sweet, strings-lined crescendo of Carry Me To Safety.

Mew aren't quite finished, though, returning to the stage for a four-song(!) encore, commencing with Visuals opener Nothingness And No Regrets before absolutely spoiling us with a trio of Frengers-era hits: evergreen favourite Am I Wry? No, the moody 156, and a moving, climactic finish from the slow burn of Comforting Sounds, which radiates contemplative beauty as, once again, the screen turns to a starry night replete with shooting stars. It's a marvellous, moving way to close the first performance of their Australian tour, a spectacular sensory adventure that leaves everyone in the room awestruck, warm and sated.