Jamie MacDowell and Tom Thum

Blowing kind-of-melodically into a curled fist is nothing special nowadays but Australian Tom Thum—accompanied by his musical partner Jamie MacDowell—turns beatboxing into an artform in this joyously inventive and energetic hour.

At first sight, there is something deceptively (perhaps deliberately) ramshackle about the pair.  Their website is just a Facebook page; they shamble onto the stage after doing their own announcement and introduce one another in an endearingly awkward manner. All this, though, belies what is a technically hugely accomplished performance that must have taken years to perfect

Though starting with some standard beatboxing, Thum moves onto a veritable orchestra of instruments—trumpet; saxophone; trombone; strings; kazoo and, for the locals, the bagpipes—and sounds ranging from a Berlin acid house rave, through a ship's foghorn to a scratchy, warbling Victrola.  Each song is a progressively more complex, culminating in a sublime jazz club number where Thum seems to be channeling Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Fats Domino all at the same time.

Perhaps aware of his show-stealing potential, Thum relinquishes the stage every now and again so that MacDowell has an opportunity to display his intricate songcraft—ending with a beautiful and touching tribute to a close friend—which perhaps not as striking as Thum's beatboxing, does slow the frenetic pace down nicely and take the show in some unexpected directions.

Thum and MacDowell exude boyish charm aplenty and their immense likeability takes the edge off what might have been an alienatingly overly-polished exposition of their musical talent.