Live Review: Japanese Wallpaper

Japanese Wallpaper lit up the stage of Fat Controller this Thursday night playing a combination of both old and new tracks.

Although he didn’t make an appearance on stage until late in the night, the Melbourne artist's performance was well worth the wait. The venue had filled up very nicely by this time and Fat Controller was a well suited location for the performance. Electronic and ambient, it's not hard to imagine Japanese Wallpaper perform at other great, albeit grungier, venues such as The Gov. The atmosphere and audience behaviour was nothing but tranquil, which was probably a result of the almost lullaby-like music that emits from Japanese Wallpaper - nom de plume of Melbourne-born Gab Strum.

Cocoon, his first single since last year's self-titled EP, replicated similar smooth synth progressions used in much of his other material – a quality that clearly trademarks his work and helps define Strum as an original artist with his own sound. 

Forces and Between Friends were the most magical tracks of the night. The performance was so smooth and mellow, particularly displaying the effortless vocals from Brisbane artist Airling. The melodies and simple structure used in Forces created space for Airling’s voice to carry the song without conflicting notes and arrangements which sometimes can overwhelm the simplicity of a track.

Other tracks performed from his 2015 release such as Breathe In, Waves and Arrival carried the same fluidity that his whole performance sparked. Strum didn’t interact much with the crowd at all, yet we feel that for this performance in particular, that audience interaction wasn’t particularly necessary as each track flowed on nicely from one to the other. 

Leaving the gig, those unfamiliar with the music could be satisfied in the notion that they had experienced a handful of pieces that allowed them to grasp the sounds and ideas that Japanese Wallpaper likes to portray and reflect in his music. All in all, a great performance.