Live Review: Dusky, Drifter, Zina

The deep house genre has experienced a recent soaring resurgence with artists such as Disclosure and Duke Dumont vehemently making their palatable marks on the scene. Youthful UK pair Alfie Granger-Howel and Nick Harriman, better known as Dusky, are another act to edge their way into the movement, albeit not quite garnering the same amount of attention as their fellow Brit big names. Dusky have subtly evolved their sound from lounge house resonances on their debut LP, Stick By This, in 2011, to the anthemic garage-tinted power numbers that are unleashed religiously by the duo today. The deep house genre can often meet with a level of criticism for lacking originality and innovation in production, but Dusky manages to creep away modestly enough from the carbon copy to be considered exciting and nuanced. Local acts Zina and Drifter both provided agreeable warm-up performances. Peppered with warm and bass-heavy house numbers, both artists expertly laid the foundations for the highly anticipated main act. Each expressed a certain level of humility, actively refraining from stealing the show whilst still maintaining striking performances. Opener, Zina, did particularly well to attract the early birds over to the dance hub, whilst Drifter sustained the vibrations with some niche tech house selections. 

Dusky began their set with a reasonably safe and generic opening half-hour for the excitable sold-out Ambar residents, before stepping things up a notch with the inclusion of some prominent techno-inspired hard hitters. This was definitely an appreciated change up from their last Perth performance a couple of years back at the same venue, which although was especially enjoyable, failed to provide any real variation. Gratitude reached new peaks on the night, with the pair playing an intimidatingly lengthy four-hour set, bustling with heavy-hitting anthems from all corners of the scene.