Live Review: This Will Destroy You, Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving & Dumbsaint

On a night characterised by little talking, it seemed only fitting that the Rosemount was startling quiet, no doubt losing punters to post-derby celebrations, or deserved commiserations. However, inside the band room, one of the myriad of amazing Sydney post-rock acts under curation of the Birds Rob'e Collective, Dumbsaint were getting underway to an appreciative crowd.

Bookending their set with their heaviest tracks, the four-piece showcased plenty of their debut album, including the set highlight, Rivers Will Be Crossed, that sparingly made use of tasteful delayed bass and verbed snares. Musically crafting a modest range of soundscapes (perhaps a little too dependent on conspicuous samples) the band's display of narrative-heavy, macabre visuals projected onto a TV-sized screen provided the perfect accompaniment for the cinematic set.   

Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving needed no introduction after having just slayed the same room a few weeks earlier; battle hardened after some eastern states shows, the quartet delivered yet again a faultless display of very progressive post-rock. Opening with a couple of tracks off their new EP, some potentially damaging tech difficulties forced them to divert from their meticulously crafted set. As those left standing had no choice but to improvise, in the process sharing their inner workings with the grateful audience, once again the discordant set placed the bar impossibly high.

As This Will Destroy You arrived on stage without a fuss, they launched into the beginnings of what could have been an hour-long song; as despite not saying a word in this time, the Texan quartet held and controlled the full room's captive attention effortlessly. Moving through moments of almost black metal eeriness, to crescendos as sweeping as any, the band really shined with their softer, more refined moments, and the best god-damn control of dynamic this scribe has witnessed. Thrashing some huge lower frequencies, brutalised at the bassist's discretionary choice of five-string or a devastatingly-effected Rhodes, creamy moments of e-bow ambience crafted a set that no record could ever do justice to.