Live Review: Julien Baker, Emma Russack, Elizabeth Hughes

Women, reverb and guitars ruled on a humid evening at Newtown Social Club. The headline act herself precisely summed up the show's structure, saying, "I'm glad we had a good laugh, now onto more devastatingly sad tunes".

Elizabeth Hughes kicked off with melancholic and reflective songs, balanced by well-received deadpan jokes in between her five-song set. Her skilfully constructed songs, expressed through a Strat guitar and vocals, resonated in both sound and reception.

Emma Russack followed this with ferocious guitar strumming, her lyrical openness paving the way for intriguingly personal and entertaining narratives. Narooma covered Russack's feelings of returning to her hometown while another song was a devastating recount of singing at an ex-boyfriend's wedding. The quick-witted banter woven into each song made for a candidly brilliant performance. 

Very few people noticed Julien Baker hurriedly hop onto the stage, which proved to be the only oversight once her immersive set began. With just a guitar to accompany her dynamically incredible vocals, Baker began with ringing harmonics in Sprained Ankle before proceeding to play out her debut album of the same name with harmonious grace.

Describing tonight's crowd as "quiet, attentive and respectful", the Tennessee singer used this considerate silence to let her vocals flourish amid echoing guitar-lines. Baker made the most of her looping pedal while doing what she called "pedal dancing" during her yet-to-be-released track Funeral Pyre. The 21-year-old had no problem explaining solutions to the existential problems she describes in these songs, frequently following this with quirky and open humour while tuning her guitar. The conceived and amazed whispers of "holy shit" from across the room following the final crescendo in Rejoice proved an accurate sentiment for her extraordinary talent. A chorus of muted voices sang along to Baker's international hit Something before closing the night with Go Home. It was a gripping performance from start to finish; a humble and gracious affair.