All Stirr’d UP

Angus piper reviews: stirr, live at the union hotel 21/03/226

Guitars unorthodoxly utter. The saxophone wails while the vocals clarify the chaos. This is Stirr, live at The Union Hotel for the single release of ‘Broken Arm’.

At the Courty for pres, the tables were still drying. You could hear shouts from inside where the Tillies were scrambling against a strong Japan. The night cleared the clouds, young and full of promise.

We ambled down King St like sumo wrestlers, stopping for warm delights at the infamous Pastizzi Café. Stirr’s new single ‘Broken Arm’ echoed in my head as I attempted to peek through red curtains draped over the Union’s disintegrating windows.

Right on time, familiar faces and a crowd of the young, guzzling Guinness in the warm knowledge of a Sunday sleep-in, greet me with expectant eyes. Smiles and laughter spread around the dimly lit room; pool balls crack and scatter; the noise of smokers entering and exiting forms the heartbeat of Saturday night at a local pub.

Band members of Stirr rise out of the anonymous crowd to their waiting instruments, as from obscurity to selfless inner-west stardom.

The sheer noise hits me first, a heavy beat; something you don’t mess around with. The joint vocals of Ruben Dragone and Jorjabelle Munday complement each other, and the saxophone (Zachary Lisle) gives the necessary depth. I’m instantly interested and held by the kind of music you don’t hear very often.

‘He sounds like King Krule,’ my mate says to me with a laugh.

‘How good’.

The energy is high and the level of musical talent on a small stage unmistakably  transfixes the audience. Stirr’s hallmark singles from their upcoming EP, ‘Speedracer’ and ‘Off Balance’,  play back-to-back: charming riffs reminding you of a bittersweet nightmare. 

The strengths are in the soft spaces between delicate chaos that invite you to enter their ethereal creation for a few brief moments.

The post-punk sound Stirr crafts wells up emotion that resounds around the room, then through each ear in a beeline to untouched areas of the heart, infecting people with a distorted hope intertwined with the malice of modern day life.

With the audience bobbing like buoys on a polluted sea, Stirr rips into their new single ‘Broken Arm’. It’s a step forward for the band, with a slower tempo and a fusion of the styles they’ve previously explored. 

Fallen off a swing, arms bent backward

‘Broken Arm’ feels like the love child of dark 80s pop rock and 90s shoegaze. The baseline knocks incessantly at the door of an empty house, before the guitar picks the lock. The crowd is happy to hear it.

‘Broken Arm’ feels like the love child of dark 80s pop rock and 90s shoegaze. The baseline knocks incessantly at the door of an empty house, before the guitar picks the lock. The crowd is happy to hear it.

In the end, elated and hungry for more, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Stirr and have a feeling their sound will spread and grow throughout Sydney and far beyond. 

Their next Sydney show is supporting The Enthusiast, with Heaven Cell at the Chippendale Hotel April 3^rd. They then are on tour for their Naarm debut, followed by a stretch of Newcastle, Wollongong and Sydney shows supporting These New South Whales. Catch them while you can.

Angus Piper @anguspipes

Feature Image photography by @_raidboss on Instagram.