Our Man in Berlin

Friday night saw Our Man in Berlin launch their latest EP Temaze at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel, with support coming from a whole host of other local talent.
Sidewalk Diamonds were tasked with the unenviable job of opening up the evening’s proceedings. As such they found themselves playing to fairly small crowd, albeit an attentive one. It was my first time seeing the band, and they didn’t disappoint. There is was a bit of a folk rock feel to the performance, but their sound came across as quite distinctive, thanks in part to singer Damien Goerke’s vocals. For me it was a great first introduction to the band, though I’m sure existing fans wouldn’t have been complaining.
Next up were Simone and Girlfunkle with a set that was upbeat and wonderfully twee. It was a fun set, entertaining not just musically, but also due to the between song chatter from singer Bridget Turner; who whilst staving off a cold, put in a great performance. One of the main highlights of the set were the vocals (unsurprisingly), especially the harmonies, which when hit, were beautiful. The band drew a slightly larger crowd, and even got a few people dancing here and there as well.
I unfortunately found myself a little underwhelmed by the final support act, The Shallows. Whilst I enjoyed elements of the band’s performance; notably the instrumentation, which felt suitably atmospheric, I felt like at times there was a little bit too much going on, with so many instruments on stage battling against one another. I felt the performance suffered a little because of it; certainly at times you couldn’t always make out the vocals. It wasn’t necessarily a bad performance, indeed much of the crowd enjoyed it, but that night it just wasn’t for me.
Our Man In Berlin have steadily increased in confidence which each subsequent performance I’ve seen. Friday’s performance was no different; they’ve fleshed out their sound a little, and really just honed their sound. As a whole the band were in fine form, even dropping a cheeky cover of the Game of Thrones theme, much to the enjoyment of more than a few in the crowd. Given the nature of the show, it was unsurprisingly that the band showcased some of the newer material; and it really didn’t disappoint, with the new single “Temaze” being one of the definite highlights. As ever the vocals from Haydn Mansell were top notch. Though really it was a great all round performance from the whole band. All in all a quality performance, at this rate it won’t be long before they’re playing to bigger crowds in bigger venues. - The AU Review