Alexandra Ward, aka Moon Holiday, weaves dreamy, pensive electronic pop. She has a voice that sounds like she's up in the clouds somewhere while ethereal synths swirl around the room. “I'm a melting substance underneath your hands,” she sings distantly over a light, bouncy marimba on Switching Sides, one of the funkier moments of the set. Her stage presence is as understated as her music – but that's part of the charm as she stands on stage in her socks, as chilled out as if she were in her own bedroom.
Fellow young Sydneysiders Movement's show, meanwhile, aims to “make you sweat” and in the cavernous Danceteria; that's not much of a task – but they don't need much help either. Theirs is a unique mix of silky smooth R&B and heart-pounding dance music and since getting picked up by indie tastemakers Modular in May, they're starting to blow up. Tonight is a milestone as they front their first sold-out show to herald their second single, Us.
Jesse Ward and Sean Walker have been Movement since late 2011, but this year Lewis Wade joined them – initially as “secret vocalist” on their first single, Feel Real, the first step in a crescendo of hype surrounding the band – and cemented their sound by providing that honeyed voice. He also brings the joy, unable to wipe a gleeful grin off his face through the whole set, even as he sings some very intimate lyrics. On the opener, Closer, a slow track tinged with longing, he promises to “give you all you need”. The following track, Ivory, picks up the pace with a throbbing bassline provided by Ward while Walker attacks the cymbals beside his deck of synths and samplers.
The band does this contrast well – the quietly building moments, driven by Wade's vocals, push the crowd into a frenzy when the bigger sounds hit. Us falls into the first category. Think a minimalist beat, softly punctuating keys and forceful lyrics, softly sung: “When we're alone in the dark/And I could take you right now” – filling out into a climax layered with synth and marimba. In a room filled with swirling smoke and eerie green light, it's a spine-tingling combination.
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It's a relatively short set of around 45 minutes – after all, it's early days for Movement. “When you're ten shows in there's a lot of room to grow, or at least that's what we keep being told,” they wrote on their blog back in August. If the hungry crowd on Saturday night was anything to go by, whoever's telling them that has got it right.
