Live Review: Autre Ne Veut, Oscar Key Sung

Kicking off the night, Oscar Key Sung's early set was plagued with some technical 'ghosts', which started a bit of a theme for the night. The one-man show was strong though, especially when Sung let the heavier nature of his minimalist drum'n'bass beats kick in, making the audience move and allowing his voice to sail neatly over the top. While the set had its ups and downs, it's easy to see him becoming one of Australia's main exponents of this genre in the years to come.

Coming off a long schedule of Laneway performances, Autre Ne Veut's voice was shot. He just couldn't scale the falsettos which are such an iconic part of his sound. Which was a shame, because the erratic nature of Arthur Ashin's voice is the crown jewel of his live show. It can turn a song on a dime, from sounding ecstatic one minute, to desperate the next. And it's this which not only makes him unique, but makes 2013's Anxiety such a rewarding listen.

In a strange way though that made the night all the more impressive, as the set still carried a punch. Most impressively, the show still managed to mostly capture the extremes of desire and disappointment which the album so vividly paints. And most of that was down to the beats – which are some of the catchiest and most distinctive out there. And boy do they hold their own live. Ashin's busy hands were evident on all the tracks, with riffs being constantly derailed by random sax or vocal interruptions. The bookends of the set – the great singles Play By Play and World War – are perhaps the best examples of Autre Ne Veut's uniqueness. The constantly shifting beats give the tracks an unhinged feel, creating a sense that Ashin's world might actually be falling apart.

Despite the vocal challenges, the set justified the buzz around Autre Ne Veut, and showed that while the trends might be moving closer to his aesthetic, he is one artist who won't be defined by anyone else.