Live Review: Kim Salmon, Leanne Cowie

As the open palms of midsummer beat down on the Sunday streets of Hobart, a sonic experiment of sorts was taking place beyond the beer garden of the longstanding Republic Bar.

It was the re-emergence of Perth post-punk royalty The Scientists – or at least a significant chunk thereof – with long-time ringleader Kim Salmon collaborating with drummer Leanne Cowie to journey from their tangled roots of three decades past to their more recent offerings on True West, released in August under the simple moniker Kim & Leanne.

The set was delightfully raucous from the get-go, despite the placid atmosphere of the early afternoon. Leaping into the fray, shaggy-haired Salmon brayed and growled, the fretboard of his guitar held high and close like a weapon being loaded. On the reverse side, Cowie was as serene and composed as a shard of marble, expressionless behind a drumbeat that drove and pushed like a truck chassis. This sense of complement was one that would permeate the entire set, which was itself split into two fairly lengthy halves.

Salmon and Cowie generously traversed the many halls of the pair’s creative relationship; the highlights, however, were found in renditions of classic Scientists tracks such as garage gem Frantic Romantic and the brawling, Birthday Party-esque Solid Gold Hell (which was vehemently requested by an audience member).

Swampland, among the band’s best-known anthems, was pulled off in a particularly spectacular fashion. Salmon’s fingers blurred against high frets as his voice twisted and lilted, drums belting out a consistent beat. It was during these darker forays that things got swampy and sticky, oozing off-kilter howls and staccato shoulder-jerks, guitars dragging and bending across writhing mud floors. With closed eyes, it wasn’t difficult to wind back a few wrinkles to a pit of moshing bodies moving in a sweaty late-night reverie.

A proportionate number of pieces from True West took the show along gentler roads. “Is this punk rock or pub rock? I don’t know,” laughed Salmon into the microphone as the pair launched into rollicking crawlers such as Ow! Baby Baby and Double Negative. These corners of the set perhaps lacked the throbbing energy of their earlier material, but worked their fingers fittingly through the doors and out to the beer garden, where they were a great accompaniment to an afternoon beverage. Acting as a more porous accompaniment, the two halves combined to pull off an impressive, brimming-over performance.