The new look Rocket Bar was crammed for rising indie star Jonathan Boulet. The 21yo indie whizz-kid is building a cult following on the back of solid Channel V and Triple J airplay of his stand out single A Community Service Announcement.

Unfortunately due to unexplained circumstances, media was locked out of the club for opening act Jimmy and the Mirrors. When this was resolved Melbourne’s lo-fi electronica act Sookie took to the stage. Initially the band were a little hard work to get into with their mix a little out of whack especially the gratingly loud synth-percussion. However, their coarse harmonies and off kilter pulses did have a good feel to them and did grow on this reviewer. Having said that a support bill which features the more conventional rock sound of Jimmy and the Mirrors and follows with the more chilled out Sookie, before then ending on the then more jangly indie of Boulet is somewhat odd. But then again pretty much par of the course for half the indie lineups we get in Adelaide.

Jonathan Boulet is very focused and almost business-like in the way he goes about his performance. His crowd interaction is very by the book and perhaps lacking in a little originality. Yet it’s effective enough and brings a professional edge as he’s quick to adhere to formalities like thanking the crowd after each song and generously making sure support acts get extra recognition. His vocals are strong yet perhaps a little unrefined, but not necessarily in a problematic way. His melodies for the most part fall a little short of striking, but are engaging enough. The band was fairly solid and aside from Boulet on vocals and guitar, was comprised of a multi-instrumentalist on percussion and keys, a second guitarist and a conventional rhythm section.

The band’s sound had an emphatic jangly guitar element to it, with a few keyboard parts thrown in and a second percussion set utilised to good measure, especially at the very start. There’s also a lot of rapid muted strumming over effect pedals, which appears a signature of Boulet’s technique. Certain slower arrangements had a bit of early noughties Radiohead about them and there are a few magical guitar flourishes, generally rounded off with an ambient lo-fi guitar edge.

You couldn’t shake the feeling some instrumental moments were used as padding.However, it didn’t sound bad and feel was up-tempo enough to get the crowd moving. The track 3,2,1 had a reasonably catchy hook and was danceable but with a strong jangly guitar element. The packed and strangely raucous Rocket crowd seemed to lap up everything the band did, especially the janglier percussive numbers and danced as much as possible. Eventually when the band launched into A Community Service Announcement the fans went off, reflecting the song’s growing status as anthem-of-the-moment amongst the nation’s indie crowd. Strangely the melodic and very hypnotic single is relatively different from the rest of the tracks, which whilst wouldn’t ordinarily be a bad thing, is a unfortunate as it is distinctively better than the rest of the set list. Still there’s enough talent for the band to grow and flourish as the still relatively young Boulet develops his sound.