If you haven’t heard of Huntly yet, then it’s probably time you crawl out from whatever rock you’ve clearly been living under and put their sweet tunes straight into your ear holes. Celebrating the success of their latest single ‘We Made It’ – a track ambient and rich with smooth soul electronica in every beat – the trio put on a killer launch at The Gasometer with the support of all female-led acts Squidgenini, CORIN and Mondegreen.
Squidgenini kicked off the night and had the audience staring and listening in awe as she captivated everyone with her catchy synth-pop induced sequences. She was effectively doing the work of at least three people on stage, constantly switching between vocals, triggering beats and creating various melodies on the keyboard. Her music is sweet yet fiery and this was the perfect combination to get the night started.
With the mannerisms and capabilities of a classical pianist, the sound of a futuristic space miracle CORIN cast an electronic ambience throughout the small but slowly filling room. Whilst a few vocals here and there may have aided her performance slightly, CORIN still proved that she could deliver a pretty damn outstanding performance through sound manipulation and beats. Her arrangements were extremely unique and unlike anything else in the local Melbourne scene currently.
‘Ambient soul tribal pop’ group Mondegreen entered the mix soon after and channelled Hiatus Kaiyote vibes into The Gaso. The five-piece led by fiercely soulful vocalist Allysha Joy brought talent beyond their years and had the crowd getting jiggy all over the place.
Before Huntly could begin their set it became clear that the trio needed to complete a certain ritual of theirs first. They put what looked like some sort of scarf over their heads and bopped up and down for a while underneath it at the back of the stage. They were clearly whisper-chanting up some words or memes that were going to make their set one to remember. And whatever it was, it clearly worked.
The room was pretty much as packed as it could be and everyone was bopping along enthralled by the band’s provocative, genre-fluid tunes. Highlights of the night were tracks ‘Sunday Sheets’ and ‘We Made it’ both including elements of soul, pop, RnB and more into the mix. Lead vocalist Elly created the various different vocals heard throughout their songs via a vocal transformer on stage, which was super exciting to watch. As well as this, the group had really good banter going on onstage and a super warm stage presence. They made the audience feel at ease with a plethora of witticism and light-hearted comments in between songs.
If you missed out on seeing these guys and are having a slight breakdown after reading this then you can chill because they’ve just announced their EP launch at Shadow Electric on the 27th of May and you should definitely pen that date in your diary ASAP because it’s going to be mega.
