I had never been to the Curtin before but I shall certainly return. With good drinks at decent prices, an open plan and good tunes both down and upstairs you immediately feel at home.

Upstairs and the first band is High Falutin’. They plug into pretty standard shoegaze fare that lacks any sort of real innovation. They come across as a sort of watered down version of sweetness and light era Lush with their flame haired singer but none of the passion required to make the music thrilling. It’s a real danger with this brand of music that bands often fall into the trap of under exerting themselves when they mistakenly associate a nihilistic attitude with the music. Singer Beck Wiggins voice is pleasant but slightly thin whilst the rest of the band seem competent enough musicians they just don’t do enough to hold the audience in their grip.

The second act, Three Month Sunset, also tread the ambient shoegaze line, however they manage to pull it together in a much more experiential way. Playing heavily on the example of Slowdive they use dual female/male vocals, jangly guitar, powerful bass and loops to lift themselves above the clouds. Lead singer and bassist Giles Simon’s voice has the quality of being whispered to in a dream as he lulls us in on tracks like Rain. It is during Three Month Sunset’s set that the room becomes as full as it will all night, with a bunch of us seated cross legged on the floor lapping up the chance to unwind. My only criticism of the band is the question of whether there is any real reason to have two bass players. Because as far as I can tell Lucy Buckeridge’s isn’t really adding anything extra to Simon’s already fine work on the bass.

After opening with an instrumental introduction The Lovetones launch into Navigator. Having both a twelve string and six string guitar played helps differentiate and layer the two guitar parts. Matthew Sigley drives home both full bodied baselines and soulful organ parts steadily throughout the night and it’s easy to see him as the back bone of the band. Meanwhile Matthew Tow is the head and heart his songwriting having been compared to that of Lennon/McCartney and Ray Davies. However I find a closer comparison is to fellow Sydney sider and The Church frontman Steve Kilbey, with his thoughtful words echoed in the Lovetones daydream pop.

The Lovetones produce catchy pop that is simply easy to like immediately upon hearing it, with beautiful tracks like Journeyman from their latest album. The dancers at the front come out to play for the impossibly catchy Stars, “She’s got stars inside her head, but a very long way to go.” Tow brings out a reworked track from his days in the Brian Jonestown Massacre with A New Low In Getting High and I am forced to commend whoever did sound because the mix is next to flawless.

After a brief pause Tow alerts us that he has forgotten to write a set list at which shouted requests are launched from the crowd to which the band responds with out question launching into Mantra. Drummer Chris Cobb seems a little too fond of the crashing finale, but this is easily forgiven when songs such as I gotta feel sound so damn good.

Other highlights, including Wintertime in Hollywood and a lengthy jam, go down a treat. During the brief encore we are given a thrilling climax as Tow jumps off stage, playing into the crowd before dumping his guitar at our feet and leaving. At which point the guitar is taken up by Three Month Sunset guitarist Gabriel Lewis who seamlessly continues the song and joins the band on stage. Leaving us in a state of shocked excitement.