While growing up, it isn’t uncommon to feel you’re at the centre of the universe.
Besides adolescence, even your 20s are ages generally susceptible of that outlook; our quiet Australian coastlines, particularly regional areas (mine was Ayr, North Queensland), practically isolate us from most of the general population.
I was one of many adolescent to 20-something attendees hovering around The Foundry stage (21 April), waiting for Verge Collection.
The four-piece began with ‘Class Of ‘09’, the perils of post-school lulls cleverly juxtaposed with chirpy inflections and a twinkling guitar. ‘Black Dog’ was similar, bleak outlook ‘It’s gonna be a mental breakdown, the black dog is starting to draw blood’ softened with upbeat vocals that instead made the idea of ‘letting myself come undone’, seem trivial.
‘We’re not happy, we’re not sad, we do thing the best we can’ – the Aussie underdog in a nutshell outlined in ‘Feel Bad Songs’; the band paused: “Cheers so much for coming out, hey. Last time we performed in Brisbane we only sold 100 tickets.”
‘Too Much About You’ sailed by, one of four tracks from their debut EP; newbie ‘Long List’ followed: ‘Wishing for quiet nights, warm and cuddled up next to you in bed, but compared to the drugs and the city life, there’s a feeling inside me that makes me wish I was dead.’
Despite being short and repetitive ‘So Vein’ was my pick of the pack; the less than two-minute-long pocket rocket is laced with traces of jazz and circulates around the clever two lines – ‘It’s all the same, we’re all so vain’. ‘Stop Think About It’ followed, ‘The Ladies’ after that, and when ‘For The Story’ surfaced the frantic audience ensured no drinks were safe in hand.
The breezy hues of ‘Postcode’ only briefly calmed the crowd, chaos erupted during the critically acclaimed ‘Feelin’ Old’, Verge Collection then closed the set (later yelling, “We will NEVER play an encore!”) with fan favourite, ‘Our Place’.
I’ve always had a soft spot for lyrical versus instrumental contrast and these boys do it well; their music makes for stellar Sunday afternoon frothy set-lists, sure, but these lyrics aren’t quite your standard crackin’ a cold one sentiments.
It’s the perfect, pragmatic parcel wrapped in a cheery, carefree paper, world-weary observations dressed in catchy guitar licks, life’s grimmest monotonies expressed in summery acoustics.
In one, mere album (and one mini EP) Verge Collection have aptly summarised the various dispositions of adolescent to 20-somethings across the country. ‘It must be pretty nice, living off something other than tuna and rice’; ‘I just did it for the story’; and ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m feelin’ old, seems my life has taken its toll’ – some of the many short, grin-inducing snippets you’d swear were duplicated directly from your trails of thought.
It isn’t uncommon to feel like you’re at the centre of the universe, but I assure you, Verge Collection will pull you back down to earth.
It doesn’t matter which quiet town or capital city you grew up in, they’ve proved that whether you're in Perth, Brisbane, or Ayr in North Queensland, we’ve all been there, we’re all going through it, we’re all in this together.
