Sydney's very own and very talented Oliver Tank joins Youth Lagoon for a night of ambient electronica and indie-pop.
Oliver Tank first came on my radar in the middle of last year during an FBI competition he had entered - his ethereal downtempo electronica has since won the hearts of many fans across the nation. His EP, Dreams, was released late last year and since then his live show has developed into something really special.
Taking the stage with a table full of equipment I'll never know how to use, a guitar and a microphone, Tank took the well established OAF crowd on a journey through his EP and some yet to be released tracks. Timely guitar licks and chords accompanied Oliver's tantric voice throughout the entire show - a voice which really stayed true to the album in the live realm. The cover of 'Snoop Dogg - Beautiful' was a crowd favourite, while 'I Love You' as the closing track perfectly crescendo'd the whole set. The live show is a 2nd weapon to Oliver Tank as an artist, I was blown away at how seamlessly he appears to have moved from the studio to the live stage - things will only get better for this guy.
Youth Lagoon took the stage a bit early to tend to the unsettled crowd and immediately 22-year-old Boise, Idaho, musician Trevor Powers had the crowds attention. His debut album 'The Year Of Hibernation' received much praise upon it's release in September last year (Pitchfork gave it Best New Music) - and after seeing him live I can start to see why. Having only hopped on the Youth Lagoon wagon some weeks ago I was seriously impressed with the set of lungs of this guy carries with him. The album tends to be more about the music than the vocals, I feel, however live it was the vocals that blew me away.
'Cannon's', perhaps the most popular song off the album, started soft and simple then built to something unavoidably catchy forcing smiles all round for the fixated crowd. On this occasion Powers was joined on stage by a good friend, who's name alludes me, playing guitar. These two worked perfectly together and made the final track of the night 'Daydream' a real highlight. On stage Powers is modest and somewhat shy, his personality only reflected in the songs he sings - a trait that perhaps makes the music all that more interesting.
Both Oliver Tank and Youth Lagoon were a pleasure to catch play on this particular night, and Oxford Arts was the perfect venue for it.
