The Tote felt like exactly the right room for Body Type. Close, sweaty and stripped of ceremony, it gave the Sydney four-piece nowhere to hide as they brought new album Tally to Melbourne.

Ten years into the band’s life, Tally found Sophie McComish, Georgia Wilkinson-Derums, Annabel Blackman and Cecil Coleman stretching their sound without losing its bite. Produced by Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa and recorded in Los Angeles, it threw jagged guitars, post-punk tension and flashes of ’60s pop at the peculiar mechanics of love, relationships and everyday life.

Live, those songs gained muscle. The layered production was still there, but at The Tote the riffs hit harder and the record’s wit and oddness came snapping into focus. Body Type sounded tight without becoming tidy, leaving enough rough edges for the songs to feel dangerous.

A decade together had not made Body Type predictable. Tally suggested a band still pulling apart its own blueprint, and The Tote got the loud, physical proof.

Images Brad Kendell

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