Reviewed on Saturday April 18 (photo by Matt Beecher)

For an evening that ended in what I now suspect was a very confused mugging attempt as some guy snatched an ice-cream out of my hands and dashed into traffic, I had a pretty marvellous time. Sure, the night was wild and rainy, but such is to be expected from Sydney’s sense of showmanship and besides, we were here for the launch of a single called ‘Sailboat’. It seemed fitting that the weather came in theme.

Kicking things off was the splendid Christopher Coleman. You can’t frisbee a tambourine in this town without hitting a solo acoustic act, but both Coleman and second support Caitlin Harnett are rare standouts. Coleman has great presence, and is all the more expressive for a tremulousness to his voice – he can sound both fragile and entirely in control. The highlight was a song written by his father, ‘Stages Of Love’, which I urge you to check out online immediately.

The only real criticism as a solo performer is difficult to avoid: providing enough variety in your set to keep the audience guessing. Ms Harnett faced a similar issue. When she began to sing, the accustomed rustle of background conversation and clinking glasses was instantly stilled. Harnett has one of those sadly gorgeous voices that makes singing seem both entirely natural and entirely enviable. But while her set arguably had more variety – from the banjo bravado of ‘Bad Man’ to her Canadian heartbreak song, ‘We Were Fine’ – the audience did eventually drift back to its wine-chatty ways. Singing solo is a tough gig.

All Our Exes Live In Texas have become quite a sought-after act lately. Sure, they’ve yet to hit those shrieking Justin Bieber audiences (or an audience of nothing but Justin Biebers! How creepy would that be! Stretching off into the darkness, tattooed and unblinking, periodically turning on their weaker neighbours to feed). But their latest appearances have seen venues bursting at the seams, and if The Basement was not entirely sold out on Saturday evening, it was damned close.

From the moment they stepped onstage (in a display of shoemanship that would have the most devout retifist sick with envy), the Exes delivered exactly the kind of performance they are renowned for. Their harmonies are so good it’s actually a little ridiculous, and their instrumentation (Katie Wighton on guitar, Georgia Mooney on mandolin, Hannah Crofts on ukulele and Elana Stone on accordion) strong as it is disparate. Perhaps because songwriting duties are taken in turns – first single ‘Tell Me’, for instance, was written by Stone, while ‘Sailboat’ is Mooney’s – each new song is like being introduced into a different room. Different tones, styles and wallpaper. Taken individually there is never a dud, but the strength is certainly in the collection.

For that reason, it is difficult to pick a highlight. Each has a prominent song or two to shine: Stone with the melancholic ‘I’m Gonna Get My Heart Cut Out’, Crofts with the deliciously ominous ‘The Devil’s Part’, Wighton with the beautiful reminiscence of ‘Our Love Won’t Die’ (which has the most oddly colourful preamble you’re likely to hear outside of a John Irving novel) and Mooney with the eponymous ‘Sailboat’ and stunning slow-burner ‘When The Sun Comes Out’.

The gig concluded with both supports returning for audience sing-along, ‘Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow’, underscoring a night of exceptional songwriting and improvised hilarity (with extra points going to Crofts for her birthday onesie). Catch them before they’re famous and only perform for royalty and astronauts.

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