You would be forgiven for thinking you were at a zoo instead of Melt Bar on Friday night with the very animalistic lineup of Fishing, Seagull and Bearhug. But with tame performances and a chilled out crowd, the atmosphere for the night was much more human.

Sydney’s Bearhug and Melbourne’s Seagull were backing up from last weeks first joint CD launch in Seagull’s hometown and this time they called upon Sydney duo Fishing to open the show. The boys had a lot of fun playing their pretty infectious brand of psychedelic loops as the crowd slowly trickled in and ordered their blood orange cosmos. Their live skills were pretty impressive, managing to keep their pad tapping and synth smashing in perfect time. The only indication that they weren’t just pressing play off an mp3 was the twenty seconds of dead air during crowd favourite Oooo and the mid-set Nintendo breakdown that drew some laughter.

For fans of Melbourne label Two Bright Lakes, Seagull were up next celebrating the launch of their second album Council Tree: an overflowing affair of atmospheric and haunting indie. Lead singer Chris Bolton who’s been described as anything from awkwardly shy to melancholic provided the sort of breathy vocals that brings to mind Thom Yorke; deserved praise a for a guy that’s been working so hard in the Melbourne music scene for such a long time. The band and crowd swayed inwardly to the beat, one that was deceptively off-kilter: courtesy of Kishore Ryan’s (one half of Kid Sam ) tricky stick work.

It was pretty clear that a home court advantage was at play, with the whole tone of the venue shifting up a gear as Sydney boys Bearhug began their set. This five piece has been building more and more of a profile, having just supported key influences Broken Social Scene and getting some decent national radio play. But on Friday, it was all about the launch of new EP To Anything.

Bearhug are always great exponents of crowd banter, with guitarist Kyle Taylor giving some excellent one liners. Grapefruit was the standout track, which is exactly what you would want from the lead single on launch night. This band is truly one to watch, with their down tempo rhythm, layering of jangly guitars and brooding vocals they truly had the whole crowd focused on nothing but the music.

Check out the photos from the gig