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A close-up photographic view of an intricate theatre program and a pair of elegant opera glasses resting on a dark, glossy armrest between two empty velvet seats. The program’s cover features abstract shapes and rich jewel tones instead of readable text, ensuring visual sophistication without words. Soft, warm aisle lighting grazes the velvet texture, creating delicate highlights on the brass detailing of the opera glasses. Shot from a slightly elevated angle with shallow depth of field, the background dissolves into a bokeh of dimmed house lights and the distant stage. The mood is refined and contemplative, evoking the quiet focus of a critic preparing for a performance.

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Seekae’s ‘The Worry’ Album review

I seem to hear The Worry, Seekae’s new album everywhere I go now, ever since I pressed play on the opening track Black Out for the first time. I heard it this morning on my little shower radio while I was having a good shave, it pounded in my head as I took a stroll and it clouds my mind when I’m thinking of something else to play. This is probably just some cognitive bias but it feels more prominent than that; like a weird shadow, haunting my days with a melancholy tint.  

            The Worry is an evolutionary leap for Seekae, like both their previous albums. The Sound of Trees falling on People and +Dome were both hugely acclaimed successes, with FBI even declaring the first as one of the best Australian albums of the decade. Seekae’s constant search for a different and better sound is both surprising and admirable. Were they a less ambitious band they might have stuck with their fundamental sound and grown stagnant. 

Percussionist Aex Cameron has taken a vocalist role, expunging lyrics of love, regret, revenge and all that good stuff from their self proclaimed ‘Ghetto ambient’ style. Note, I rest my search for a defining genre there because I think that trying to constrain The Worry into a traditional and cohesive defining sentence would be as pointless as the amount of elements they are attempting to fuse together. 

Seekae’s Their dark lyrics, melodies and themes are a seemingly ordinary endeavour but once you lay into the album and get a sense of where they come from at the beginning and the journey they take throughout you start to realise how heartwarming and even inspiring Seekae have made such dark themes, like a person might extract an antidote out of the poison of a viper. 

 Continuing on from the success of The sound of Trees falling on People and +Dome, The Worry is an evolutionary leap for Seekae. Percussionist Aex Cameron has taken a vocalist role, expunging lyrics of love, regret, revenge and all that good stuff from their self proclaimed ‘Ghetto ambient’ style. Note, I rest my search for a defining genre there because I think that trying to constrain The Worry into a traditional and cohesive defining sentence would be as pointless as the amount of elements they are attempting to fuse together. 

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How We Review Performances

We prioritize live craft, context, and clarity over hype, using a narrative, no-stars approach. Shows are selected for artistic ambition, cultural relevance, or buzz, with each review weighing concept, execution, and emotional impact.

Review approach
A grand, empty proscenium theatre captured in photographic realism, with plush deep-red velvet seats leading the eye toward an illuminated stage. The stage curtain is half-drawn, revealing a hint of ornate set pieces and polished wooden floorboards. Warm, golden overhead stage lights cast a gentle glow, creating soft reflections on brass railings and subtle shadows between the seats. Shot from the back of the stalls at eye level, the composition uses leading lines to emphasize depth and grandeur. The atmosphere is sophisticated and anticipatory, as though moments before a premiere, with a slightly shallow depth of field keeping the focus on the stage while the balcony tiers blur elegantly.