Maybe it’s just my mood, but there’s a notable starkness to Seaworthy’s opening piece this evening. Always firm advocates of minimalism, tonight they circle around three, maybe four notes on Cam Webb's guitar that dig a little deeper, emotionally, than their gentle pastoral normally allows for. They move onto more familiar soundscapes with ‘Lost Highway’, perfect music for dusky back roads, but it’s this previously unheard opener that lingers in the mind.

The long shadow of Warren Ellis hangs over any Australian band that numbers electric violin amongst its instruments. Ellis and The Dirty Three embody an important strand in local music, the point where underground guitar rock meets the yearning sadness of traditional folk song. You could call it colonial melancholy, and with song titles like ‘Redcoats and Convicts’ it’s clear that Charge Group are aware of the precedents. But they’re also confident in where they’re headed, walking up onto stage and into a wandering, semi-improvised song with not so much as a hello. Experience helps: there are moments of vocal grandeur when Matt Blackman brushes up against the ghost of his previous, much-loved band Purplene – you can sense him wanting to let go, crank the volume, but the rest of the band hold back purposefully. These songs – ‘Vice’d’ in particular – are ballads for late, alcohol-blurred nights, brimming with regret yet unafraid of beauty. I predict that many listeners will hold Charge Group close to their hearts; judging by tonight’s audience I’d say that some already do.

With an album called ‘Notes and Errata’ you might expect The Instant to be short and sharp, but their music is surprisingly discursive. Instrumental, their tones fall pleasingly within the mid-range despite having two guitarists. Some skinny-arsed kid whips out a Fender and I generally brace for a treble onslaught, but in pieces like ‘Eight Hour Valentine’ the melodic kick lies largely with the bass (Adam Jesson, also of Charge Group, working a double shift tonight), with guitar content to coast along in the slipstream. The Instant are by no means musically relaxed – they’ve enough rock DNA to ensure against that. What they do possess is a confidence that allows them to craft a sound that’s all tension and build, and rarely pay off. It keeps you with them.

by Emmy Hennings