Crowded to the right of the stage, the Adelaide-based Jesse Davidson and his four-strong band shyly introduce themselves and began their short set.
After a smooth cover of The Kinks’ “Nothing In This World”, they went on to play Davidson’s own song, “Flaws”. This beautifully written track, though more abrasive live than the recorded version, smothered the crowd with Davidson’s crooning self-reflection. Ending with a soothingly moody reprisal, Jesse Davidson waved to the crowd and hopped off stage.
Elana Stone tapped her tambourine against her leg and stood in front of the stage in matching checkered leggings and jumper. Singing to the quietly seated crowd as coloured smoke curled around her small figure, Stone radiated talent.
With her cool jazz style, that jumped between smoulderingly close and heatedly raw, Stone’s charismatic stage presence added extra charm to the full feel of the set. Her powerful voice blazed through the crowd with incredible soul, and drew in the complete attention of the enraptured audience.
Each new song expertly re-introduced her impressive vocal range and showcased the high calibre of her lyrics. Ending the set with her upbeat song “Cats”, Stone thanked the quiet crowd, bowed and left the stage.
Husky, taking their name from frontman Husky Gawenda, opened their set with the slow-moving “Tidal Wave”, following with one of their stronger numbers, “Dark Sea”, the lamenting lyrics carefully conjured the gloomy atmosphere of the shaded song.
Playing a silken cover of INXS’s “Need You Tonight”, Gawenda sung calmly over the complacent audience with the semblance of a gentle soul. Joking that the crowd was the most well behaved audience they had ever come across, Husky introduced “Hunter” with the explanation that it was about a memory within a recurring dream.
A cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Lover, Lover, Lover” followed, evoking an enthusiastic response from the audience, as the sweeping harmonies of the song traced the delicate lyrics and slow instrumental background. A dainty piano solo acted as an introduction to the richly textured folk song “The Woods”, which closed the set.
As in their album, the standout tracks were “History’s Door”, “Dark Sea”, and “The Woods” – each revitalising the energy of the sleepy crowd over the course of the relaxed set.
The constrained sound of Husky’s record was lost in their live show, and each musician built their respective instrumentals powerfully around Gawenda’s soft vocals.
However, the lyrics, that border on gaunt but never quite cross the line into the complete emotion that word suggests, don’t compare to the obvious influences of the band. Similar to listening to a warm mixture of The Shins and Fleet Foxes, minus the lyrical intensity, Husky lacks the cutting sincerity of these influences.
