Brisbane shoegazers DEAFCULT have been gaining a lot of attention with their debut album, ‘Auras’.
Louder than their positive press is the noise on top of their soaring melodies, which attracted a lot of earplug-wearing fans to Brisbane’s The Brightside (21 July) for their album’s launch party.
Support for the show came from three exciting young Brisbane bands, each showcasing unique styles. Spirit Bunny opened with a set of fun, dance-heavy tunes made of familiar 8-bit video game sounds. Their songs are given a big boost thanks to the powerful beats from their drummer, leading to the two singing noisemakers losing control and dancing.
Fitting closer in style to DEAFCULT were fellow shoegazers Ultra Material. They showed a lot of promise throughout their set, featuring nice touches of synth and guitar that made their song float
Taking a quieter detour were post-punks Pleasure Symbols, whose songs were filled with gothic pleasure. The trio had a minimal set-up featuring melodic bass, glassy synths and mid-tempo drums. Their songs were bathed in reverb, giving their moody odes a cavernous feel.
A large crowd gathered for DEAFCULT’s set, but it wasn’t as crowded as on the stage. All six members of the band packed in tight to squeeze themselves and their artillery of instruments and effects on the small stage.
The band opened with ‘Stars Collide’, a perfect beginning with chiming guitars building to a burst of noise. With such a crowded stage, it’s wise to expect the band to pack a lot into their songs. All four guitars combined for towering moments of fuzz on rocking tracks like ‘Rubix’ and ‘Secret Wisdom’.
The combined harmonies of Innez Tulloch and Stevie Scott were buried under the noise, but enough was heard to sweeten the punch of the music.
Although their guitars required tuning, no one minded evidenced by no one acting on Stevie’s invitation to “throw something at me next time this happens”. Fans were willing to wait for DEAFCULT to do what they needed to build their perfect shimmers of sound.
The band finished with the closing track of their newest album, ‘Here Be Death’. Mixing frosty guitar lines over a dance beat, it was a brilliant roar of distortion to finish with.
Although there wasn’t an encore, the band came out to greet the fans who came closer to admire the pedals behind their magical tunes.
Like magicians, DEAFCULT are immersive performers and leave fans with expressions of awe. Everyone’s ears will be ringing afterwards, but you can’t complain when the noise is as pretty as this.
