REVIEW: TriAmi & Pet Lounge at Department, Ryde 6.9.25

THERE'S unpleasantness on the northern horizon, over the thin green stripe that separates our grassy rock from the sad land beyond. We do well to ignore the shouty sadists in stupid flag cloaks who sully the hotel car parks of the Top Island.

Department is a world away from all that. It's a nice, new place - thoroughly nice. The couple of dozen people here either already know each other or soon will. We're united by pleasantries, naff jokes, bonhomie and beautiful, harmonic voices. 

There's a purity to Noah's emotive stories, which one after the other address the seriously sad topics in an open-hearted way to a pin-drop audience that (very unusually for the Island) remains silently open mouthed and perfectly attentive throughout. Not even the noisy popcorn and biscuity snacks on each plant-potted, candlelit table can break this colossal, comfortable peace. Awe fills the warm air. Lisa and Sadie pitch their voices meticulously. Even the cheeky cover of Cher's "Believe" pulses and glows with renewed credibility. Very special.

The same respect is afforded to Pet Lounge, the most-commonly trousered half of Coach Party, debuting an impending album's worth of quirky, gifted acoustic odes to international merch smuggling, early mornings/late nights and advanced stages of personal growth set to acoustic guitar interplay that might not be Jansch and Chapman riffing through the night in a Camden milk bar circa 1965, but might as well be.

When the Island "does nice" it does it very, very well. Suddenly it doesn't feel like Summer is yet over, after all.