The Audreys

Liam Gerner provided a straggly-haired, soaring vocal support for The Audreys. His percussive guitar playing, and a voice that had a distinct John Mayer-esque register, helped Gerner rise above the singer-songwriter scrapheap that seems to be unavoidable at the moment. With an onstage Jekyll and Hyde persona, Gerner proved extremely watchable as he flickered from smooth-travelling balladeer to socially-aware hipster and finally arrived at a slightly aggressive lunacy that frightened the crowd into appreciation. This bi-polar performance was, at times, mesmerising.

A crowd of young professionals and a flock of girls-night-out types filled the Corner Hotel to see country-folk sensation The Audreys. The usually moody stage had been transformed into a more lucid backdrop, as photo frames and loose articles of clothing hung in mimicry of the Between Last Night And Us album cover. The audience gave a warm, albeit stifled, reception; as tonight appeared to be more about gathering to appreciate the music, instead of seeing the latest spectacle.

Opening with the title track from the ARIA Award-winning Between Last Night And Us, Tasha Coates proved that the sweet resonance of her voice carries as well live as it does on record. With a honey-soft mix of elegance and a girl-next-door persona, when Coates is not commanding the microphone, she dances and sways in a half-salsa, half-tango seduction. The whole of The Audreys prove to be a likeable bunch, each one exuding their own private charm. While, like an increasingly coveted Voltron action-figure, together they form a tight knit and egoless unit.

Cutting quickly into ‘Banjo & Violin’, Coates rolls her iconic lines: “I’ve gone a bit country since I met you baby, I used to be so rock-n-roll”, as The Audreys swagger in a Samba groove that is fuelled by the percussive playing of Tristan Goodall (guitar and banjo). Goodall, dressed in a 1950s suit, is locked in a nearly immovable Jack Nicholson-esque smirk that widens as Coates’ melodica melodies cut through with more precision than you would expect from an instrument that is predominately plastic. ‘Banjo & Violin’ is one of the great successes of the evening.

The psychedelic-country of ‘Nothing Wrong With Me’ is another highlight. The Audreys play a decidedly more lawless version of this track live, as the slide guitar of Goodall moves from minimalism to extremes helping the song flow effortlessly in- between the separate sections.

‘Pale Dress’ slowed the momentum the band had created with the previous two songs, as the sudden shift from foot-stomping numbers to balladry reminded the crowd that The Audreys only have one album to their credit. Not all parties were uninterested though, as adjacent next to me a crowd member remarks to his date, “That song always makes me cry”. His female counterpart seemed as disappointed with this statement as those around me were with the sudden change in tempo.

‘You & Steve McQueen’ proved to be another crowd pleaser. Live, the song has a resonance and weight that is missing from the restraint of the album version, as Coates’ voice hangs over the slow building rhythm. The slight hints of ambience from the album are taken to extreme, forgetting the three-and-a-half minute formula, The Audreys expand and please.

Lyndon Gray (double bass) is the next to defy convention, opening ‘Oh Honey’ with a chaotic and mesmerising double bass solo. Gray and Toby Lang (drums) are in constant dialogue with each other, the tightness of their joint sound making them one of Australia’s best rhythm sections. ‘Oh Honey’ reveals the full nature of the psychedelic, almost trip-hop, promise of the album. Coates’ dedication of the track to a “sexy man” draws the girl from before to ask her date, “All the guys must love Tasha?” Wisely, the guy has learnt from the previous “crying” comments and decides to go with ‘No’. It seems a good white lie.

‘A Little More’ sees Mikey G (violin) receiving a well-deserved rap from the crowd for his multi-instrumental talents and co-hosting duties. Strongly locked in their country roots, ‘A Little More’ is but a segue into a new, and particularly brilliant, track. When Coates informs the crowd that the song is, as yet, untitled, she is thrown a few suggestions from the floor: “Someone is naming the song before they’ve heard it? That’s so post-modern!” Coates’ use of delay on the vocals and Mikey G’s sparse, reverb-heavy violin moulds a new sound for the South Australian quartet. The high point of the night is the barely lit Corner Stage illuminating Mikey G’s violin as puffs of resin fly from his bow. Post-modern or not, the tune is among the best of the night.

The scary thing about The Audreys performance at The Corner was that they were nigh on sensational – and this is after just one album. With new songs that reflect the talent of the material debuted tonight, we may not be waiting long for The Audreys to lose the stop-start momentum shifts that stifled their flow. If this happens, they will be a must-see.

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