written by Chris Familton

Tiger Choir seemed to have most indie bases covered with a set that swung from Animal Collective electronic tribal yelps to super-melodic buzzed out guitar pop. A trio hailing from Tasmania, they initially came across like copyists of whatever is buzzing out the kids these days but as their set evolved there were some really nice moments of spiraling guitar melodies showing they have one foot in Sonic Youth’s shoes and the other in the aforementioned Animal Collective’s sandals. Potential in spades as they say.

Deerhunter stepped up to the Metro from two nights at the Annandale on their last visit. There they were magnificent and thankfully the larger room didn’t stop them being just as head spinning and physically moving. Opening with Cryptograms was a good move that pretty summed up the range of styles they can muster. The rolling bassline was all rubbery, leading the song before the washes of distortion and spaced out vocals took over. Having a great second vocalist always helps and Lockett Pundt nailed a superb dreamy chug in Desire Lines that looped round and round.

Halcyon Digest tracks featured heavily with the heavenly Helicopter hypnotizing with its woozy shimmer. Likewise, He Would Have Laughed drifted along causing many swinging heads in the crowd. One of the best moments from that album was Memory Boy with its bouncing 60s vibe and gushing hook and melodies. It showed Deerhunter are as much a pop band as any other label that gets thrown at them. Dipping into previous albums, Little Kids was aired, as was Agoraphobia.

There were some minor technical hiccups with bassist Josh Fauver fighting a battle with a dying amp but generally it was his loping bass style that kept things anchored down and preventing the songs from spiraling off into an ether of casual noise. The main focus of the music is unavoidably the gaunt and gangly Bradford Cox who threw the Sydney crowd a few compliments between songs and generally seemed to be the quiet leader of the band.

The encore consisted of one long track of dark gothic post punk that sprung to life eventually before   dissolving in a toxic sea of distortion at ear shattering levels – a wonderful conclusion to an evening of fascinating music both in terms of the songs and the accompanying sonics.

this review first appeared in Drum Media