Tonight is the second night of Tia Gostelow’s east coast Thick Skin album launch party. The show was supported by Darby and Alexander Biggs.

Sophisticated and intriguing is how I would describe tonight’s first support singer Darby. In her set, there were many groovy and refreshing tunes, with some slower and darker songs in the mix such as Cologne Was Coming Down From The Moon. The song painted a vivid image of a cold and damp western Europe winter. Drifting away from the winter coldness, her next song Bayview, showcased Darby’s diverse and hypnotic writing ability. With a more complicated composition, Darby is able to blend the sadness and bitterness into the groovy percussion and distorted guitars riffs.

Follow Darby on Instagram: @Darbymusic

Coming up next was Alexander Biggs. Grew up in rural Victoria, Alex started his musical journey playing classical piano from a young age. Coming from a classical root, his songs mostly feature an acoustic arrangement, which as he describes is emotionally tuned, melodically captivating and philosophically grounded. My favourite song from Alex’s set is Tidal Wave.

Follow Alex on Instagram: @biggsalexander

“All my songs are about shitty guys… I guess I should stop writing about that.”

After Alex’s set, Tia’s band stepped on stage and a guitar riff brought us to the upbeat rhythm with the first song Hunger. Bass drums along with captivating guitar riff and enchanting synth melodies started the next song Hey Friend.

A vivid and lively beat clashes with a somewhat bitter vocal, Tia brought Vague Utopia, another teenage summer dream of to the venue. That’s What You Get is a colourful and fun happy little tune to dance to, but it was actually about one of Tia’s cheating ex, so that’s a really interesting contrast to the happy little tune.

“This is probably the first song that I ever wrote” Started with powerful drum kicks, along with a somewhat retro and dreamy guitar riff, State of Art changed the atmosphere of the venue. Empowering and uplifting to say the least.

Blue Velvet is one of the slower and more depressing songs from the whole Thick Skin album. With its slow and mysterious melody that reminds me of the Lana Del Rey’s Hollywood sadcore, the crowd went into another dream, only it’s a sad one this time. A dream of someone they lose or someone they cannot have. And from what Tia said, she actually got inspiration from Lana Del Rey and cigarettes after sex.

Giants starts with a soft and cheerful intro and transitioned into a youthful summer dream. With Alex’s and Darby’s set, tonight seems to be a very dreamy night. After the amazing cover of We Are The People that Tia did for Like A Version, with a very dreamy and almost vaporwave-esque intro, Tia brought the crowd along to her little adventure to the Outer Space.

Up next is Tia’s most played song on Spotify and probably most well know one, Strangers. I actually liked her voice in person more than the studio version. And the arrangement of the song transitioned very well with the help of the live band. To my surprise, Tia brought out LANKS for the second part of the song, just like the studio version. The energy and link between Tia and LANKS were amazing despite it being the second time they’ve ever sung it live together. This bit was definitely the highlight of the night!

After announcing she will be hanging out by the merch desk after the show, Tia brought us her favourite song from the album Out of Mind. It is one of the more depressing songs from the album. After the song finished, Tia and the band disappeared off stage for a short while.

Then they stepped back on stage for a sneaky little encore. With a heave synth note, Tia brought us her last song Phone Me to the venue. The crowd is moving and swaying with the upbeaty pop rhythm of the song. Sadly, this sneaky little encore was a bit too sneaky, a quarter of the crowd had already left the venue

Follow Tia on Instagram: @tiagostelow

The only lowlight of the gig was the rather disrespectful audience from Alex’s set. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem to like Alex’s set very much. On songs that were a bit slower and quieter, the chattering of the crowd was louder than what’s happening on stage. Most of his songs were slower and quieter. I understand this is his style, so I can’t really complain here, but the vibe and the energy of the crowd will definitely be higher if there were some faster and more upbeat songs.