MOM JEANS MICROWAVE + SUZI
WHERE CORNER HOTEL, NAARM/MELBOURNE, VICTORIA WHEN SUNDAY MARCH 12TH, 2023 REVIEW ELLIE ROBINSON PHOTO DANIEL BOCZARSKI
Serious question: what wave are we up to in emo? Fourth? Fifth? Whatever the case, Mom Jeans were keen as cookie dough to make Naarm/ Melbourne feel all the feels, chant and the chants and mosh all the moshes. But in the spirit of emo’s brass-bound community roots, we’d first hear from a local act: the fast-rising queen of the scene’s Australian chapter, Suzi. It’s without a doubt she’ll be filling rooms like the Corner (if not those thrice its size) within a year or two – galvanised by the captivating chemistry and applaudable tightness of her backing band (guitarist Nick Keogh a force to be reckoned with on his own merits), Suzannah Yaghmoor tore through her short set with infectious buoyancy and white-hot spirit. The crowd seemed to loosen up more and sink deeper into a trance with each song she and the band played; the bulk came from Yaghmoor’s justreleased EP I Hope You Can Hear Me Now, but the highlight was an emotively charged indie-punk scorcher – a preview of the album she’s working on right now – about “having a shit New Year’s”. Yep, she’s an emo legend in the making.
Microwave’s own legend status was hard-earned by the American quartet, dosing out three of the genre’s sharpest and most stirring albums – as well as three EPs, a couple splits and a handful of standalone singles – over the past decade.
This was their first time playing in Naarm and with 45 minutes on the clock, they were beyond determined to make up for a decade of missed tours. The band slammed through an equal measure of deep cuts and fan-faves with little time to breathe between bangers, oscillating from moody anthems like ‘Leather Daddy’ and ‘Circling The Drain’ to all-out ragers like ‘Lighterless’ and ‘Trash Stains’.
Microwave are one of the bands that have made Pure Noise a leading force in the modern punk and emo game, and their performance tonight, tight and dogged and bursting with fortitude, made it unmistakably clear why. In all honesty, they should have been this show’s headliners: Mom Jeans came with the hits in clutch – ‘Something Sweet’ and ‘Crybaby’ were recent gems that had fists pumping and voices straining right off the bat – but their set as a whole felt sloppy and unrefined, treated like a laidback weekday gig at the local pub. They leaned on schlocky “bro culture” tropes like shoeys (a trend that badly needs to die) and steered the show with the kind of frat boy hubris we’ve seen kill many a talented band long before their prime.
The songs themselves did a solid job of distracting from the weird vibe, with a balanced roster of highlights from last year’s Sweet Tooth album and fan-favourites from their debut effort, 2016’s doughier and more lowkey Best Buds. Particular standouts from the former included ‘White Trash Millionaire’ (a caffeinated blast of chaotic pop-punk) and ‘Ten Minutes’ (a honeyed pseudo-ballad impossible not to melt into), which showed contrasting sides of Mom Jeans’ emotional poignancy. From the latter, opening track ‘Scott Pilgrim v. My GPA’ was immediately met with rapturous approval, while classics like ‘Girl Scout Cookies’ and ‘Vape Nation’ kept the energy booming in the set’s second half.
All in all, Mom Jeans were hit-and-miss – they soured the atmosphere with their messy and borderline grating stage presence, but sweetened it with songs that made us feel at once nostalgic, melancholic and as though we could take on the world with our bare fists. If nothing else, we left sure of two things: Microwave are one of the best emo acts on the planet, and Suzi is fast on track to (rightfully) taking their crown.