PVT

Due to a slight lack of time management tonight, I unfortunately missed on out seeing the distorted onstage inventory that Axxonn, who has been building his reputation in Brisbane’s noise world, had to offer.

But, on the fortunate side, I was able to catch the end of Sydney’s Seekae, whose performance I was looking forward to. What I managed to grasp of the set was a collection of intelligently placed samples, vocals, synth and drumming to create smooth and at some times, jagged soundscapes. Definitely an up and coming act to check out.

Having only heard a handful of songs of their new album, ‘Church With No Magic’, which they were launching tonight, I was admittedly very interested to see what the tracks would sound like played live. More specifically, I wanted to hear the math-rock/anti-dance genius of ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’ performed live. All this was done with endless energy and synchronicity. From the beginning of the set with opening track ‘Timeless’, there were two noticeable things the band had done, 1. Drop the vowels and 2. Add the vocals and thus, Pivot became PVT (the result of the name infringement notice from beyond dreadful American ‘metal’ band, Pivot)

Their set continued on in this manner, playing the title track of the new album, which seemed to go down quite well with the increasing crowd. The inclusion of chopped, delayed and spacey vocals worked well with the bands heavy digital sound but there is no doubt that the crowd favoured the electronic math rock instrumentals from their previous album which to their and my pleasure, were featured in great ratio to the new material.

The likes of Didn’t I Furious, In The Blood and Sweet Memory to name a few, set The Zoo alive. All members worked off each other’, collectively creating a dark, entrancing and vibrant atmosphere at all stages of the show. Laurence Pike’s technicality, rhythm and the flailing limbs was possibly the biggest focal point of the whole performance, Robert Pike’s multi-instrumentalism and dynamic and soaring vocals and Dave Miller’s brilliant onstage movement and programming. To end the set, an encore including new tracks Community and Only The Wind Can Hear You but the obvious highlight being O Soundtrack My Heart.

A thumbs up to the sound tech of The Zoo- the mix, as usual, gave the audience the pleasure of hearing each nuance of PVT’s set loud, clearly and without fault.

It’s up to the listeners to decide whether they like the new stylings of PVT, but from this show, it was a definite that they have sealed there place as a must see Australian live act.

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