Wow. What a night of musical prowess and feminine power already. And the queen herself hadn’t even begun. The queen of unparalleled vocals, poignant performance, creative vision, empowering socio-political expression and of art pop music. The one and only, Montaigne.

The Australian music industry is dripping in talent, yet Montaigne has persevered as my favourite Australian artist ever since I first experienced her incredible performance at Southbound a few years ago. Her first album, Glorious Heights is a soaring and beautiful exploration of the love that pervades the hardships of life and announced her as one of the most alternative and brilliant rising stars in Australian music.

Then finally, her second studio album, Complex, was released, and it was everything I could have wanted. Complex is trademark Montaigne, yet even more idiosyncratic and innovative. It’s as if her artistic development sent her on a quirky and emotive tangent that has been fully realised in Complex. Yet listening to the recorded versions of Montaigne’s tracks is one thing but experiencing them live is a whole new ballpark. She is a truly mind-blowing live performer, with her peculiarly wonderful music the perfect complement to her otherworldly vocal capacity. Safe to say, I was extremely excited to see, hear and feel her new songs live.

Her set at Badlands Bar on Friday night was more or less the album in released order, with a few old hits thrown in for good measure. Thus, the show kicked off with one of my favourite new tracks, the fun and bouncy tune ‘CHANGE’. The perfect opener to illustrate her growth as an artist. It was followed by ‘Complex’ itself, a powerful and theatrical exploration of a past, complicated relationship.

The theme continued with ‘For Your Love’, the first single from the album and the ominous sequel to her hit track ‘Because I Love You’. With the body-gripping bass and suspenseful sensation that saturates the song, it perfectly highlighted Montaigne’s growing musical maturity. It perfectly led into her next track, the reflective and spiralling ‘Losing My Mind’. Her erratic and jerky yet somehow smooth and coordinated dancing in ‘Because I Love You’ followed. I must admit however that I found it a tad surprising that she featured it when she did. I figured it would have worked well to perform it immediately before ‘For Your Love’.

Regardless, the mesmerising and rich ‘Love Might Be Found (Volcano)’ was next, melting the audiences souls and eardrums like lava. It was followed by a buoyant and cheerful tune about dying. It’s called ‘The Dying Song’ and I love it so much. Can’t have life without death, right? So, what’s the big issue? Just have fun and embrace whatever comes next. Energy can only be transferred so I’m sure we’ll all be just fine.

She skipped over ‘Showyourself’ before continuing her chronological set with ‘Please You’ and another one of my favourite tracks from Complex, the five-minute journey of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. It begins a deep, reverberating bass that takes over your whole body before escalating into a chaotic and calamitous confusion of noise and emotion. Her ability to channel the raw emotion of past experiences in the present moment is so captivating and a key reason why her live performances are so profound.

Her next track, ‘Pleasure’, beautifully explores the dichotomy between pain and joy, preceding a song about all her insecurities. All those little things that weigh us down and make us question our self-worth. Through the track ‘is this all I am good for?’, she ponders this exact statement. (Note the lower case letters.) You can feel her anxieties haunting the magical cave-like Badlands venue. But you can also feel the adoration of the crowd lighting Montaigne up. We all know she’s more than good. She’s amazing. Glorious. Complex. Beautiful.

We’re always our harshest judges. We all need to go easy on ourselves and love and appreciate ourselves the same way we can with others. Without self-love, it’s hard to give to others. You can’t take from an empty well! You too are amazing, glorious, complex and beautiful! Montaigne simply personifies these traits. Her and her art are symbols that encapsulate the human experience, in all its weird and wonderful forms.

“I’ve finished the emo portion of the show, it’s fun now!” she declared with one of her contagious and relatable laughs. The frivolous track ‘I am a Clown’ was next, highlighting her affable and folly nature, before the rousing climate action anthem ‘READY’ to conclude the show on a compelling and inspiring note.

Rapturous and adoring applause followed from the diverse collection of people all united by one incredible and engaging force, a young woman from Sydney named Jessica Cerro. Montaigne.

At this point, I almost considered trying to start a chant for her to return and perform ‘I’m a Fantastic Wreck’. Turns out I didn’t need to, because much to everyone’s delight, she returned to the stage and performed it.

“And if I'm a little bit deranged would you not
Estrange me
Or change me
And if I can write your name can I be
Angry and
Nasty
And if nothing else can change me
And I am just this way then
Would you love me?”

Yes, we would.