There’s a new or rather a re-kindled Rock venue North of the River in Perth – ‘TheSixty30’ a venue named after its postcode and which despite its limited capacity has a greats sound to it main room. It’s been a while since we saw the band we came for Dichotomy who are gearing up for a full length release, but it’s worth the wait as a small but appreciative crowd get warmed up by openers ‘Broken Hymns’ who actually put on a fine show of catchy angsty rock. Definitely a young local band to catch if you can, they may be a little rough around the edges but they have some more than decent tunes.
Perth band Dichotomy is the culmination of a long journey undertaken by vocalist Jess Hodgetts and her partner in crime and life guitarist Corey Hodgetts, and now sporting the added attraction of bassist Paul Judge and drummer Christian Lombardi. With that back-line they’re full of fire tonight as they kick of with one of my favourites from their 2015 five track EP ‘Human Detox.’ It’s the prefect opening song really as it showcases the strengths of the band – Australian Rock that references a snatch of the 80’s, a touch of the harder stuff, some great hooks and which also adds some truly remarkable vocals to go with those refined arrangements.
Next up ‘Against the Wall’ has an arrangement that has more swing and a great melody that allows Jess a real free hit at the vocal, its a song that sounded great on the EP, but has grown probably more than any other live. That buzz is backed up by ‘Cracks in the Sky’, a much mellower song with a cracking chorus that again seems to have grown since the EP.
The middle of the set is all about mood – ‘Dark Karma’ (a great song and the band’s previous name) sees Jess let it rip vocally on another slower number that builds beautifully to a sing-along chorus, before ‘Eyes’ which is even moodier and is led in by the bass. The real class though is still to come, with the EP opener ‘Walkaway’ stamped with that great voice before the debut of a brand new song written at the start of the year ‘Heart and Soul’ which hits like a ton of bricks and keeps you down – it may well be the best song Dichotomy has recorded yet and if it’s a taste of things to come, ten look out.
A short and punchy set closes with ‘Tell me Why’ rough and rocky and a great song to close with. There’s no time tonight for the band’s great cover of The Motels’ ‘Take the L’ but you know what – they didn’t need it. A great return to the stage by a band to watch…