Live Review: The Ocean Party, Cool Sounds

The back tables are stacked against the walls opposite the glowing arcade machines to make space for the growing crowd that’s gathered here at Netherworld. It seems that, in at least one sense, the gaming bar is a perfect place for this evening’s show – it’s a place where activities typically experienced in isolation are shared with a community.

Initially conceived as a chance to celebrate the launch of new albums from Melbourne-based bands Cool Sounds and The Ocean Party, the tour has become something else since the unexpected death of drummer, singer, and songwriter Zac Denton, who previously played with both bands on the line-up, as well as many others. 

If there’s any common thread throughout Denton’s music, in addition to the prolific amount of collaborations he has been involved in, it’s the honesty with which he approached his subject matter, communicating in a clear, direct and plain-spoken manner. 

One needs to look no further than the two bands playing tonight to see evidence of Denton and his collaborators’ desires for authentic connection with those around them – the groups share instruments and band members, with Liam ‘Snowy’ Halliwell and Nick Kearton working double shifts this evening.

It’s unclear whether there’s some irony behind the name, although Cool Sounds is an accurate description of the band’s aesthetic. Dainis Lacey sings lead vocals, his plaintive crooning often supported by bass player Lauren Huynh’s harmonies, and every element of the music seemingly designed to ease into itself, largely thanks to Halliwell’s saxophone playing. 

Big Scary’s Joanna Syme is filling in on the drums and looks like she’s having a great time, sharing smiles with Huynh and keeping things steady as the band play songs from their latest soft-rock record, Cactus Country.

The seven-piece bookend their performance with songs written by Denton, opening with a cover of Don’t Know from his Hobby Farm solo project, and finishing the performance by inviting his friends, family, and loved ones on stage to sing one of Denton’s early Ciggie Witch songs, Wrong Crowd. As the mass of joyous voices join in for the chorus, “I’m in the wrong crowd and I feel/I feel so out of place,” the song’s lyrics take on new dimensions. The final lines seem to possess a sense of resilience, sounding like a promise to keep living: “I want to go home, but I can’t/I have to stick around”. 

Zac’s brother, Lachlan Denton, is drumming for The Ocean Party tonight, sitting in his younger brother’s position behind the drums to perform his songs. He begins the set with Wading In, one of the many highlights from 2014’s Soft Focus. The vivid details of Denton’s songwriting fill the room, and it’s an incredibly moving experience to hear his thoughts and feelings coming alive once again.

Lachlan Denton arranges a poster with Zac’s song lyrics to Home scrawled on its back on top of the kick-drum while he sings the song from the band’s latest album, The Oddfellows' Hall. “Zac wrote a lot of lyrics,” he says. It’s hard thinking about how the idea of home feels so complicated in this setting: “Home is where I want to go”.

Particularly affecting is the way that Lachlan Denton’s own songs take on extra weight this evening. Ever an introspective writer, What It’s Worth finds him questioning the significance of his own experiences. However, tonight it’s overwhelming to hear the humility that lives in these lines: “And I know none of this makes me different/And I can take that for what it’s worth.”

The chorus of Guess Work provides another moment of catharsis (“I want to exist outside it all”) although the whole performance feels like an elegy; Halliwell’s guitar solos during Guess Work, Off And On, and White Cockatoo are brimming with life and energy, the guitar screeching and wailing as he works his way down the fretboard. 

The band invite Denton’s friends and Cool Sounds bandmates back on the stage for their final song, Split – Zac Denton’s first appearance on an Ocean Party record, the title track from their 2013 album, and one of the band’s most essential songs. The small stage is crowded with friends and loved ones singing the words from the chorus: “I am finding it hard/I am split”. There’s no shortage of tears in the audience, although being together in this room full of people, singing these songs, feels like healing.

The setlist tonight has been full of The Ocean Party’s best work, and it’s difficult to hear Lachlan Denton telling the crowd – one of the largest turnouts for their Brisbane shows – that they might not be returning. This is of course understandable, and if this is the last performance from the band, then they have left us with a night that no one will forget.