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Cloud Control have built a strong following in Perth, and the punters eventually packed into Amps to celebrate the release of the band’s debut album Bliss Release. Sadly, only a handful had arrived in time to be treated to the support performance by Perth’s own Split Seconds who set the standard quite high for the night. The local five-piece got into their set, whipping an electric drum pad, keys, acoustic guitar and some nice lyrics together. However, their enjoyable folk pop sound failed to make the small self-conscious crowd dance.

Richard In Your Mind stepped on the stage and by this point the Amplifier was filling up. The cheering and clapping from punters was drowned out by a cheesy applause sound effect. Their sound is psychedelic pop, that sometimes breaks into hip-hop that sometimes breaks into folk blues. It’s an odd thing to experience, but they make it work. Unique, impressive and modest, the strangely comfortable atmosphere they created was intoxicating. Watching front man Richard Cartwright dance around barefoot, wailing and muttering into the microphone was highly entertaining. When he took the time to have some words to the audience, other band members repeated what Cartwright was saying seconds after him, creating a mass of quirky echo confusion.

As Cloud Control made their way through the crowd, they were greeted with cheers and shrieks before they even hit the stage. The set began with There’s Nothing in the Water we Can’t Fight from the new record. Merry punters danced away to the slick tribal drumbeats from Ulrich Lenffer as their smiling faces lit up the room.

Front man Alister Wright wooed the crowd, grinning from ear to ear between songs. On keyboard and tambourine, the alluring Heidi Lenffer stole the light and introduced a new song Beast of Love, Lenffer’s subtle harmonies always have a huge impact, and this song had her voice vibrating around the room chilling spines. “This is for everyone who loves love, or likes love” she said.

Wright got down to business, taking off his shoes for Meditation Song #2. Bassist Jeremy Kelshaw told punters the story of how they managed to get a projector from a fan by using a social networking site. “We believe in the power of Twitter!” Kelshaw shouted with his hands raised in praise. Gold Canary was a whirlwind of excitement with punters joining in with the cooing noises, stamping along with the drumbeat and making bird wings with their hands. Deathcloud tickled the dedicated fans while a red bra was tossed around during Ghost Story.

They gave us what we wanted. No covers and no faking their last song for a clichéd encore – just a nice clean set. As they left us with Buffalo Country, punters politely jumped around, shuffled feet and sang along with the lyrics.

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