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Yeo, Slow Turismo, Mondecreen @ Transit Bar

The rise of social media has brought about many things, one of which being the removal of barriers between artist and audience. Despite this, it would be a lie to say that it wasn’t surprising to see the headliner of Transit Bar’s Saturday night entertainment, Yeo, standing front and centre for Canberra support act Mondecreen from beginning to end of their set.

The local duo that didn’t take long to warm up the crowd on a night that made it all too clear that winter is just around the corner. While describing their music simply as electronica feels lazy, it is more due to the fact that the band pushes every limit of the genre.

Despite only being on stage for twenty minutes, their setlist spanned from downtempo, brooding tracks similar to Chet Faker to infectious, 80’s synth-driven numbers such as ‘Losin’ It’. Even saxophones weren’t off the table with a sax solo completing the crescendo of ‘The Ache’ and ensuring that all eyes were strictly focused on the stage. With an impressively wide vocal range from frontman George Stavridis and a confidence from both members that surpasses their relatively short time together as a band, it would not be surprising to see Mondecreen playing for much larger crowds in the near future.

Despite the variation throughout Mondecreen’s catalogue, they had nothing on fellow locals Slow Turismo, who took to the stage as the crowd continued to grow and mingle with Yeo.

Fresh off a performance at the recent Enlighten festival, the four-piece wasted no time in turning up the volume and taking the audience for a ride. After beginning their first track with a sludgy guitar riff before quickly transitioning into a poppy chorus straight out of Two Door Cinema Club’s book, it quickly became apparent that there was no predicting where the band would go next.

However, those in attendance were all too happy to be taken along for the ride as the Transit Bar-regulars slowly but surely drew patrons out of their seats and onto the dance floor. While their music shares similarities with the math-rock elements of bands like Foals, Slow Turismo have been sure to hone their own individual sound, making them an always welcome band amongst the Canberra music scene.

With the combination of a long weekend and plenty of dancing opportunities being provided by the previous acts, the night already had a celebratory feel to it. This was only further emphasised as balloons were tied to any stable surface and Melbourne producer Yeo and his drummer casually strolled onto stage and informed us that this was the last show of his national tour.

While the ten-year veteran also let us know that he was sick and losing his voice, he insisted that everyone else party in his honour, not that there was much choice in the matter once he donned a keytar and the music started. With almost no one left seated, the two-piece tore through a few of their Prince-tinged dance tracks, giving no indicators of any illness.

One thing that quickly became clear was the difference between the studio recordings and live performance. With many dance artists often relying on just their laptops, it was refreshing to see the live drummer give Yeo’s music a much more organic, funk-infused feel. With a bigger emphasis on vocals as opposed to what you’ll find on record, Yeo’s live performance managed to bridge the gap between 70’s funk, 80’s synths and modern electronic dance music, creating something entirely new in the process.

 

@snackswithyeo at @transitbar ??

A photo posted by Slow Turismo (@slowturismo) on

As the night neared its end, it became apparent that the mainstay of the Australian music scene had put his experience to good use though the pacing out his setlist, bringing the crowd to a collective peak with the one-two punch of ‘Quiet Achiever’ followed up by the irresistible ‘Icarus’. By doing so, Yeo ensured a rapturous response from the near-capacity venue and if he thought he was getting off easy for being sick, was sorely mistaken.

With the crowd going nowhere and with the artist being sincerely taken aback by the reaction, he gave everyone a big sing-a-long by the way of covering Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’. If spending his evening happily chatting to the crowd wasn’t enough to make him a crowd favourite, his encore and set as a whole made short work of that.

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