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EVENTS
SBTRKT at O2 Academy Brixton - Review
Other | Friday 3rd October 2014 | Christina
SBTRKT, aka Aaron Jerome, is a very popular man – I tried to catch him at Bestival in 2012 and couldn’t even get inside the tent. Last night he brought warehouse vibes to Brixton, packing the O2 Academy to the rafters, which is no mean feat. His newly released second album, Wonder Where We Land, showcases a maturing but no less adventurous sound, although it did take a few listens to wrap my head around it all. The live SBTRKT experience was no less captivating.
Strobes and lasers, plus the instrumental set up really brought the music to life, itself a perfect balance between tracks from his new release and his eponymous first LP. The masked man was bounding about on stage, going from synths to keys to chimes, and was quite content to let the vocalists take centre stage. Raury bought his Atlanta swagger to ‘Higher’ and fellow newcomer Denai Moore showcased her vocal power on ‘The Light’. Frequent collaborator Sampha added the soul when he graced the stage for ‘Temporary View’ and ‘Never Never’. The anthemic ‘Hold On’ was lifted even higher with a tribal percussion instrumental – pure carnival vibes.
The energy dipped slightly with ‘Look Away’, an atmospheric track that would have benefitted from live vocals, although he brought the tempo back with ‘Stars’ and ‘Wildfire’, which got the crowd shaking despite being the pre-recorded versions. He closed out the main part of the show with the funky ‘New Dorp. New York’, before returning for an encore, which included a cover of ‘Lotus Flower’ from Radiohead – fitting as the band was the first ever gig he saw at Brixton as a teenager.
SBTRKT is unlike anyone else out there at the moment, and his Brixton show will go down as one of the most inventive and unpredictable musical experiences of the year.
