Asta (born Asta Evelyn Binnie-Ireland) has been riding a winning streak across the Sydney music scene. She first made headlines in 2012, taking out Triple J’s Unearthed High as a fresh-faced teen, but it wasn’t until 2015 with single “Dynamite”, featuring top gun Aussie rapper Allday, that she anchored herself on the national radar – the single landing a spot on the Triple J Hottest 100.
Last year, the Tassie native toured alongside Ellie Goulding on the Australian leg of her mammoth Delirium Tour – we caught her at the Sydney show, spinning tunes to a stadium crowd with confidence and ease. She dropped her ‘Shine’ EP at the start of the year, a neatly-produced 5-track tribute to noughties pop. Nonetheless, a mixed-bag crowd slowly filed into OAF for Asta’s Shine tour, local duo Tees (Lizzy Tillman from psych band The Grease Arrestor and Sean Duarte from shoegaze purveyors Virgo Rising) setting the electro-pop mood for the evening.
Tees served up low-key saccharine pop medleys, with touches of house and ‘80s inflections, glued together using bright keyboard riffs and Tillman’s striking vocals, which cut through the mix with verve and sharpened technique. Their cut “Got The Feeling” took it up a notch, upbeat percussion and vintage synths getting the early-arrivers stuck into a little groovin’.
Asta began her set seated centre stage on a rather tacky plush, vintage armchair. Leaning forward to look into the eyes of the 18-year-olds pressed up at the front of the stage, all jittery and squealing with excitement, Asta wasted no time building energy and launched right into power-pop hit “Wild Emotion”. Throwing her locks back in between shoulder-shimmies, she belted out the high notes with remarkable Goulding-esque ease. By the first chorus, there were already sing-alongs from the crowd on the “It’s just a wild emotion” hook and the bridge “I feel emotional/oh so emotional” (X4) really hitting home that raw, wild emotion.
The funk guitar-driven “Doin’ What You Want” came through next, switching the vibe right over to all-out ‘80s with a slinky bassline and bouncy melody. Asta strode from one end of the stage to the other in her salmon velvet slacks, gazing intensely into her audience – from the youngins to the baby boomers – sporting a triumphant smirk every time she rhymed “higher ground” with “all around” and “sweetest sound” in the chorus. And her fans ate it up, swaying, Snapchatting, and screeching at the turn of each verse.
“SYDNEY?! HOW’S IT GOING! THERE’S LIKE, SO MANY OF YOU HERE! I WANNA PARTY!” she beamed, screams and cheers rippling through the floor. Three-piece band in tow, Asta attacked each track with learned arena confidence; at times proving engaging, though at others almost superficial, particularly considering the small-venue atmospherics. Multi-coloured light beams refracted off the spinning disco balls, showering the walls in kaleidoscopic movements, and pulsing along with the retro ambience. When the smooth pop “Saturday Night” hit, hand-claps carried the beat and made playground lyrics like “I’m more Gucci, you’re more Nike… But you’re sugar, and I’m more spice” almost bearable.
Notable in the set, Asta’s pleasant Like A Version offering “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – sparse accompaniment spotlighting her vocal control and silky melismas. As predicted, “Dynamite” proved an explosive (pun intended) finale, bar the inevitable hint of disappointment come the realisation there would be no surprise appearance from Allday himself. No doubt, Asta is a charming performer, her discography feels 2016-current, her songs are catchy, but sometimes the greatest risk is failing to take one.