Sydney’s We Lost the Sea kicked off their East Coast tour at The Zoo in Brisbane on Friday night in front of a packed house, supported by The Sea Shall Not Have Them and Madeleine Cocolas.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them were up first. When I first saw their name on the bill I had an idea why they were tapped, but The Sea Shall Not Have Them turned out to be a great fit for the night, both musically and “somber-post-rock-nautical-themed-band-name”-ally.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them is a 2 piece band, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to them. Curt Emerton’s guitar, filtered through a swathe of effects, leaves a large sonic footprint and generates quite a bit of low end. Check out their latest album Debris for some solid instrumental rock – I got a Meniscus vibe a few times during the performance.
Madeleine Cocolas was up next. Madeline was another bold choice for an opener – her set featured keys with layered noise, loops and occasional chorus-soaked vocals, but what stood out most about her performance was how she produced the sound from her setup.
Madeleine used Genki Wave rings to control pitch, vibrato and other aspects of the music—almost like a modern day, wearable theremin. It made the set as much performance art as music, and at times watching Madeleine felt like seeing a skilled puppeteer or an interpretive dance performance on top of the music. Fortunately the movement didn’t detract from the music itself and the total package created an attention-grabbing performance that I’d be keen to catch again.
Just before We Lost the Sea took the stage, the Zoo’s PA played a reading of “Are we really too late?” , the children’s story found in the insert of 2019’s Triumph & Disaster. The somber, reflective and jarring tone of the narrative set the tone for a set that would hit all of these marks.
We Lost the Sea’s set kicked off with “A Beautiful Collapse”, a song that represents their sound well – starting off calm and bittersweet, then suddenly ramping up to deliver a stream of gut punches.
Next up was my personal (and crowd) favourite, “Parting Ways”. This one starts off gently, with an almost upbeat jazzy feel. Like “A Beautiful Collapse”, “Parting Ways” features dense, crushing guitar from Mark Owen and Carl Whitbread. But here, these 2 provide a solid platform for Matt Harvey’s simple but gorgeous high-register guitar part that soars above the rest of the song and brings the track towards its abrupt stop and wistful outro.
Towards the end of the set WLTS played “Challenger: Part 1” from 2016’s Departure Songs. This song tells the story of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, complete with recordings from Mission Control and shocked onlookers who were watching live as it unfolded. Each song on Departure Songs portrays a real-life tragedy, and it’s a powerful experience to hear Mission Control counting down to takeoff as the music builds, with the knowledge of what’s to come next looming over the listener. Drummer Nathaniel D’Ugo’s accelerating pace and the trio of wailing, chaotic guitars put you on the shuttle—gravitational forces making you feel like you’re about to burst through the floor, instrument panels and and lights screaming out with indecipherable messages, then…nothing. All that follows is a sustained guitar note, the understatement of the decade from Mission Control saying there’s “obviously a major malfunction”, and the confused anguish of members of the public who tuned in to see a fun few minutes of some astronauts and a schoolteacher getting launched into space.
The band finished up with “Towers”, the first track from Triumph & Disaster. Kieran Elliot’s bass and Matthew Kelly’s keys play a large part in this one, leading up to a tense, repeated section that I’ve seen compared to a video game character climbing a never-ending staircase to face the final boss.
We Lost the Sea are touring Europe next month.
Setlist:
- A Beautiful Collapse
- Parting Ways
- Bogatyri
- Keys interlude
- The Last Sun
- Challenger Part 1
- Towers
