Harmony, Keep On Dancin’s, Woolpit 16th August @ The Beetle Bar.

- I struggled through the torrential yet somehow refreshing rain into the fusty innards of The Beetle Bar, made fustier by all of the steaming rockers crammed up against the bar. The loud, shrieky and sludgy sounds of Woolpit’s last couple of songs were a neat match for the thickening, oily atmosphere. A beer or two later and Keep On Dancin’s slow and deathly country-rocking slithered through the haze. I really like their rich, southern gothic style. The addition of Julien of Tiny Migrants on the synth only makes their sound more fulsome, filling the room like a cavern, making it feel more expansive than it actually was. With the exception of Julien, who -despite how good he sounds- still seems like he’s working his way into the band, they’ve really got what they do down pat and sometimes it felt as though they were the tiniest bit blase: abandoning showmanship and racing for their beers at the end of every song. Harmony are a band to get people off the couch on a rainy weekend: their dishevelled, soulful majesty seems so appropriate for Brisbane on such a bedraggled night. Tom Lyngcoln and co., have always endeavoured to sound like they’re recording in a stairwell, on the couple of excellent records they’ve released, but you can’t beat actually hearing them live, especially in such an intimate environment as The Beetle Bar. Honestly, I expected their shotgun soul to blast me right back out the door, but instead the songs of their recent record, Carpetbombing came alive in a way that they hadn’t previously. Rich and warm and connecting in a manner that surpassed both listening to the record and the last time I saw them, supporting The Drones at The Hi-Fi. I especially enjoyed Tom’s solo rendition of Cut Myself Clean, performed as a stopgap while the band’s mental bassist Jon Chapple fixed up the E string he’d just broken (!). The band are really brilliant, the balance of the girls’ vocal trio and the shredding rock is great, but Tom is a phenomenon: halfway between Joe Cocker and The Boss, he roars with an emotional abandon that completely belies the technical command he has over his instrument. Similarly, his guitar-work is sparse but inventive, wringing just the right notes from the melody, a carefully broken blues-rock. Harmony are astonishing, one of Australia’s best. We live in a country that drips gothic horror: in our dingy cities and terrifying expanses of outback. So few bands even attempt to come to grips with it, never mind express it as masterfully as Harmony. They are a band we deserve and are so lucky to have.

- Chris Cobcroft.