For the second coming, Ben Sherman has taken over the Corner Hotel with their Big British Sound event - the first ever in Melbourne. Though I unfortunately missed Big Scary, I entered the already well-liquored up venue to the sound of some sweet English tunes spun by DJ Jess McGuire, just before Pikelet, a.k.a. Evelyn Morris and some backing-men took to the stage for their set of light and gentle keyboard tunes from her recently released album Stem. Amongst her set was her Big British covers of Kevin Ayers from Soft Machines’ ‘Girl on a Swing’, and a slightly lack-lustrous (and apologised for) cover of Broadcast’s ‘Man is Not a Bird’. Pikelet is not a performer, whether by herself or with a band I ever really go out of my way to see, but tonight she was interesting to watch, as she built up her songs with combinations of sounds, coming together through different pedals.

With no greeting, Whitely opened his solo set with his own track ‘Poison in our Pocket’, just with his acoustic guitar, sounding delicate and desperate. Early on in the set he pulled out his covers, the first being an acoustic rendering of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’. Though nothing can beat the original, to hear the song performed in such a different light saw Whitely show how he could manage to take a song so different to his own, and mange to put his own spin on it so, gracefully flawed. His banter became somewhat nervous but animated, often joking that the audience “shouldn’t be so awkward”, though one memorable quip was his “Fuck You” to a certain Melbourne-based, “hate-filled” online publication, for misquoting him the week before. Mucking around, he asked the crowd to guess different songs, playing the intro to the Drones ‘Shark Fin Blues’ before continuing on with his own songs ‘Lost in Time’ and ‘The Submarine’.

Armed with three boys and a Fender Jaguar, Bertie Blackman took to the stage in a whirlwind of monochrome, opening with her single ‘Thump’. Bertie Blackman is only little, but is a performing firecracker, full of an electric energy from start to finish, her vocals travelling from growly lows to soaring, gentle highs. Wedged between her own songs, such as ‘Come To Bed’ and ‘Lust and Found; were her covers, the instantly recognisable croon of ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins and Bertie’s most recent single, a Banshees cover called ‘Peek-a-boo’. Bertie had the Cornet Hotel packed and dancing to her synth-enthusiastic tunes, it was fast-paced and light-hearted fun. She finished her set with the “song about her favourite animal”, ‘Byrds of Prey’, before leaving the punters to either hang around and listen to the British tunes spun by Triple R’s DJ Simon Winkler
or to head off into the chilly Thursday night.

Header Photo by Naomi Rahim - View the full gallery!