Live Review: Shlohmo, Purple, D33J

After a much anticipated appearance at Splendour last week, Shlohmo and his WEDIDIT tour pals took the stage at Metro Theatre last night for a hypnotic set. D33J and Purple were great precursors to the headliner of the night, delivering moody tracks through purple-hued lighting.

Playing the entirety of his latest album from start to finish, Shlohmo's Dark Red filled the space with distorted heavy sound, a melancholy change from his earlier music. Opening with Meet Ur Maker, shredded synths rained down through a bleak, echoing beat. It's this ambient kind of dark melancholia that distinguishes his older, more approachable stuff from the new boiled-down fury.

Flanked onstage by drums and a guitar either side of the extensive motherboard set-up, the technical side of the production was impressive. Being a deeper album, Shlohmo enlisted live musicians to accompany the percussive snaps and deep bass, adding a different tonal quality to the (purposely) damaged sound. Bill DeLelles, a hired gun percussionist flown in from New York, worked the machine drum arrangements on live pads, while supporting act D33J strapped on a guitar alongside Shlohmo and worked the synth, seemingly from inside a smoke machine.

The elaborate set-up made all the difference, adding to the mind-melting experience of hearing this music live. The stage was shrouded in smoke and minimal lights, enhancing the moody and trance-like state of the crowd, while Shlohmo and his accompanists wore dark hoods, not showing their faces. This anonymity allowed you to focus solely on the beats and smoke-screened stage.

The pace picked up with one of the last tracks, Fading, which broke the crowd out of its lull, harking back as it did to his older more drum'n'bass-influenced tracks. All up, it was an entrancing experience.