10 June 2022 – Fortitude Music Hall Brisbane – review by Scott Sutton – photos by Bec Harbour
I am a big fan of We Lost the Sea, so when they announced that they were chosen to support The Jezabels on their tour to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their debut studio album Prisoner, I bought tickets immediately to the Fortitude Music Hall show even though I’d never heard The Jezabels before. (Then less than 10 minutes later our editor Bec messaged to see if I wanted a media pass to cover the show for The Live Wire – shoutout to my impulse control.)
About a week before the show I started listening to Prisoner and their other albums and EPs. Sometimes it can be an effort to get a feel for a new band, but this was like when you meet someone and click immediately. Singer Hayley Mary, keyboardist Heather Shannon, guitarist Samuel Lockwood and drummer Nikolas Kaloper have a lush, indie sound that almost feels country-tinged at times. They can go from jangly guitars to heartfelt vocals to soaring choruses in a matter of seconds, and I was keen to see how this translated to a live show.
I found a spot at the barrier for We Lost the Sea, keen to take in as much as I could for their first shows outside Sydney since before Covid (which incidentally would lead to a last-minute lineup change meaning that guest guitarist Simon Dawes would be attempting to fill the big shoes of guitarist Matt Harvey and keyboardist Mathew Kelly.)
We Lost the Sea are a post-rock instrumental band, so they play long songs that start slow or soft and build to loud, powerful finishes on the heavier end of the rock spectrum. If you came to these shows to see 4 minute indie rock songs without having checked out the band before, it was probably a bit jarring. But to the credit of both the audience and the songwriting/performance skill of WLTS, the crowd showed lots of love to the band, who likely gained quite a few fans last night.
We Lost the Sea played ‘A Beautiful Collapse’ and ‘Parting Ways’ from their latest release Triumph & Disaster, and ‘Bogatyri’ and ‘The Last Dive of David Shaw’ from Departure Songs.
‘Parting Ways’ is always a crowd pleaser – it starts out with slinky guitars supported by Kieran Elliot and Nathaniel D’Ugo’s chunky, funky rhythm section before it explodes about halfway through and doesn’t let up for 7 minutes.
Being in the opener slot and missing Kelly’s keys meant a few adjustments for the songs, whether this was clipping an outro or moving a synth part to guitar, like towards the end of “A Beautiful Collapse”. But if you liked what you heard live, you’ll dig We Lost the Sea’s studio work as well. I usually recommend that new people listen to Departure Songs once, read a review like this one to get some background on the band’s history and the stories behind the songs themselves, then listen one more time with that backstory in mind.
After WLTS finished I gave up my spot on the barricade and found a less-crowded spot on the side of the venue, which turned out to be a great choice. As The Jezabels played through Prisoner, something in the audience caught my attention – there were lots of couples who, when the band would start a song, would jump excitedly, then refocus and wrap their arms around each other, swaying slowly (almost subconsciously) to the music. It felt like Prisoner was full of different “our song”s that were bringing vivid memories flooding back of first dates, new relationship giddiness, heartache and everything in between.
And the interesting thing was that it wasn’t one particular song – it seemed like just about every song played on the night was part of the soundtrack for someone’s past. Even though I’d appreciated The Jezabels’ songs on their own merits, seeing how much it meant to the audience, both as a single unit and on an individual level, made them resonate so much more strongly.
Accordingly, whatever your favourite song from Prisoner is will probably be the one that jumps out most at you in the show. A personal highlight was ‘Deep Wide Ocean’, which featured gorgeous harmonies from Shannon that complemented Mary’s main vocals. This song made me realise that Mary’s powerful voice can sometimes sound like Miley Cyrus (I mean that as a compliment!). ‘Endless Summer’ is an anthem that packs a punch and received one of the biggest reactions of the night.
After one of the quickest pre-encore breaks I can remember, The Jezabels came back on stage to play a few more classic hits. ‘A Little Piece’ and ‘Easy to Love’ were standouts from a great group of songs.
If you have the opportunity to see this show in Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney or Melbourne over the remainder of their tour, whether you’re already a fan of either of these bands or not, it’s a special experience that’s (almost) worth missing the last train home for.
