Last week, a pal of ours invited us to go and see a band he’s been keen on for a while now, and we couldn’t resist a Thursday night outing to the Brudenell. Although we weren’t especially au fait with HighSchool, the Melbourne three-piece put on quite the electro-indie display, with two supports beforehand, and we lapped it up.

The show opened with SISTERLY, a really tight local quad that utilised complementary dual vocals and could really be on the rise. Their modest Spotify listener count was absolutely not accurate to how they fused modern pop with classic grunge, in a must-listen fashion. And for good measure, their fun, self-deprecating banter added to their crowd-pleasing techniques. Definitely give these guys a spin — it seems as though they’ve got more tunes on the way!

Next up, the female-fronted Sunken served a slice of melancholy indie that gently harnessed the tempo of SISTERLY and tamed the room for a while. Delicate, angelic vocals poured over every song, and their shoegazy indie/alternative vibes gripped the Brude. It was like a Softcult/beabadoobee hybrid.

Electronic drums, slightly surfy vibes and pacy solos… HighSchool’s MO was all about getting people bopping. They played without a drum kit but the beats came almost DJ-style and the guitars ended up doing most of the talking. These self-proclaimed goth-poppers built up an arsenal of material during Australia’s lockdown and hitting the road has been their main aim since. Through the distorted distillations of quirky keys, catchy melodies and often-screeched vocals, I found favourites in ‘New York, Paris and London’, ‘August 19’ and ‘Forever At Last’. And I couldn’t help but think that shimmering-fabric backdrop at the venue very aptly screamed school performance to a tee for them…