It was a sweltering summer’s day in February 2014 when NZ’s golden girl Lorde swept up Sydney’s Laneway Festival with her take on “Easy”, a collaboration on Son Lux‘s own doom-pop cut. Punctured by Lorde’s ethereal vocals, the Denver native’s quirk-filled instrumentation prompted palpable hype amongst my fellow festival-goers and I with its stunning simplicity (a hard thing to do when dealing with heavily-inebriated Aussies, mind you).
With that in mind, seeing the original mastermind behind Son Lux at work on the other side of a world in a swanky bar set-up was always going to be sumthin’ else entirely. Ryan Lott’s CV alone is enough to reel you in; the classically-trained pianist and composer has had his writing fingers in all of the pies – compositions for feature films, commercials, dance companies, and cross-genre collaborations – notably his hip-hop inclined work alongside production demigod Sufjan Stevens and rapper Serengeti in Sisyphus.
An entree to the electronic evening ahead, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Olga Bell mans the Plaza stage, as the Zürich venue slowly fills up with wine-swirling and chatter. She gazes wistfully at spots in the crowd, engaging but at the same time retracting behind a fourth wall of sound that tip-toes on peculiar. Between eccentric samples, melismatic coos, and extensive layering, half the audience are lost in it – the other, simply lost.
It’s a stark contrast to the direct nature of Lott’s opening address. “This moment: change is everything,” he sings valiantly, fingers gliding across his keyboard with bursts of colourful ambience. Drummer Ian Chang’s rapid fire hits on the kit scoop up the silence in quick builds and erratic releases, tapping into compressed samples that take their turn around guitarist Rafiq Bhatia’s bright licks. After playing together on the previous ‘Lanterns’ tour, Chan and Bhatia were enlisted by Lott to help craft the new album, ‘Bones’, and the collaborative chemistry is tangible in a live setting.
“Flight” is a showstopper, the steady drum build sending the audience into a synchronised bop that morphs into an uninhibited revelry. “Are we fixed or free?” Lott implores over sharp, disfigured guitar shrieks. The album’s fluctuating energy has the room clinging to every moment, engaging even with the moments of silence in between hits and mantric musings. “You Don’t Own Me” sees Lott recreating his broken (but in truth, laryngitis-affected at the time of recording) vocal line from the LP, bringing a new vulnerable dimension to the mix. Hunched over his keys, Lott speaks into the silent crowd. “It’s just you and us. Tonight you are our home away from home,” he says softly.
Jazzy staccato-lined rhythms seem to diverge into different paths amongst the band, the sections arguing rather than conversing – but it genuinely works. “Easy” is a linchpin of Lott’s signature sound, digital tastes and neo-classical comforts fusing for a minimal yet colossal effect. Bell joins the three silhouettes on stage for an encore of “Lost It To Trying” from the ‘Lanterns’ LP. Armed with a cowbell, Lott gracefully leads the room for the last time into a whirlwind of sound, and then into silence.
Here’s our full photo gallery from the evening: