Live Review: Collarbones, HTML Flowers, Yoke

Three-piece Yoke are purveyors of electronic indie-pop that would be perfectly at home in a festival mid-day slot. Marrying smooth R&B-tinged vocals with strong bass and synth-driven melodies, they shimmer with the promise of becoming a big deal in years to come.

HTML Flowers is basically the alt lit version of music, a style born entirely out of internet-speak and online discourse. When the diminutive rapper wasn’t energetically spouting off about Tumblr in abbreviated speech – see the song that had him repeatedly shouting “IDC” – he was creating abrasive, insistent beats. There’s something inherently cringe-worthy about watching a white guy in oversized lenses and a snapback prowling a small stage sounding like he’s rapping his Facebook messenger conversations, but the crowd were baying for it, the shouts and hollers that came after each of his songs proof enough that he has a devoted audience that’s bound to grow.

The delight in seeing a sold out room ready to witness Collarbones was obvious on Marcus Whale’s face, and mirrored in every person watching. He and Travis Cook launched into a set of their finest, drawing heavily from their latest record, Return, replete with foghorn sound effects and tongue-in-cheek humour. As Whale punctuated percussive beats with fantastic dance moves, tunes like Only Water were performed with precision. Whale’s voice seemed to be suffering a little, but it didn’t stop him from encouraging a devoted crowd to turn into a sea of moving bodies. The climax was undoubtedly when they kicked off the house-flecked Turning and divided the audience into two to have them sing back the chorus. As Whale conducted this impromptu choir, it was impossible to not be swept up in the euphoria.