I knew it was going to be a good night for two reasons. One was the two-for-one cocktails I was enjoying on a rooftop bar over looking the City skyline and the other was knowing I’d see Skipping Girl Vinegar play again. It had been almost a year since I last saw them live and since that the group had released their long awaited second album Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey.

First up was The Trouble With Templeton and the trouble with the act was the female vocalist was horribly off key and it was off putting. The songs and the male vocalist reminded me so much of Jeff Buckley that as a Jeff Buckley tribute act, they’d be pretty good. Otherwise, not really interesting.

Myles Mayo had a better sound and better collection of songs in his repertoire. His pop filled country songs reminded me a bit of Carus Thompson mixed with WA’s talented songwriter Timothy Nelson in both sound and structure. An accomplished songwriter in his own right, Myles’ songs were upbeat with sweet harmonies and a backing band who accentuate his talents. Excellent choice as a support for Skipping Girl Vinegar.

Mark came out like a preacher at a congregation before unleashing a darker side to Melbourne’s pop folk ensemble. There was an edge to their performance and at the times the band seemed sound heavy even for an essentially acoustic act. It was like they were set to dominate the subdued Vanguard audience and I think they achieved it. I sat up enthralled at the way they went about their music. As a long time fan of the band, I’ve always loved their style but tonight they stepped up a notch to a new level, and I liked it.

Older songs from the Sift The Noise album had new venom and the generally darker songs from the second album found a home on the setlist. The band have even changed up the stage decorations replacing the cut out animals with two huge glowing stars, but the ever present red telephone remains on a small coffee top front and centre stage.

The band introduced us to "Project Monkey In Space" (head to their Facebook page for more details facebook.com/skippinggirlvinegar) which is seeing the band make a rocket, tape a toy monkey to it and blast it into space along with audio and video of messages from fans to direct to the universe. A quirky concept with a beautiful ideology behind. (I contributed a video of my latest tattoo - the phrase ‘ask forgiveness for future mistakes’)

Skipping Girl Vinegar have certainly matured as a live band. They’ve worked out how to pace their set and now know what songs work best and where throughout. Ending with infectious “River Road”, it was certainly a different performance I was expecting from the band, but a pleasant one nonetheless.