Hein Cooper @ Soundlounge, Gold Coast - 18/06/2015

As we walked through the doors, Ella Fence began to sing as people huddled in groups around bar tables or had made themselves at home on the floor. This is exactly what I expected at a place bearing the name Soundlounge - pure comfort and sweet, sweet melodies.

As she played ‘Unknown Water’ from her latest EP, Wanderlust, Ella, classified as a cinematic folk artist, sounded better live and offered a different vibe to following musician Kyle Lionhart. Lionhart, a neo folk/soul artist, hailing from Byron Bay, went to town on his guitar. ‘Slow Sips’ really showed Kyle’s vocal ability. Lionhart definitely bared his soul for the audience, often poking fun at his lyrics being overly emotional. “We try to make sense of things and ruin it,” said Lionhart, reminding the crowd to go with the flow. To finish off his set, he beautifully covered ‘Oceans’ by John Butler. In my opinion you have to be pretty ballsy to attempt a tune like that – Lionhart definitely did it justice.

Near after Hein Cooper stepped on to stage, performing his first ever show on the Gold Coast. He blessed us with some unreleased tracks, ‘Curse of Life’ and ‘Dopamine’ which was written about his hometown Ulladulla.

Hein later played ‘The Real’, the second offering from his stunning self titled debut EP. ‘The Real’ is said to have been inspired by his favourite movie The Matrix, which absolutely makes sense when you listen to the song - futuristic beats mixed with tantalising lyrics and vocals. This song makes you feel good and definitely makes you want to move. You might also mistake yourself for a good singer as listening to this song allows you to get carried away. 

Revealing himself as a whirlwind on the gadgets, Hein confessed this was his first time using this equipment in this capacity. Hein’s performance and creative lyrics were exactly what I expected from the genius behind ‘Art of Escape’ which was released earlier this year.


By Jariah Travan