Live Review: Oliver Tank, Oisima, Yukon Snakes

Yukon Snakes – the stage name for Brisbane-based producer Tim Searle – warms up a chatty Black Bear Lodge crowd with classy flair. Mixing a smooth ambience with bright samples and regular keyboard flourishes, he's interesting to watch as his well-prepared set both positions the mood and adds an element of wizard-like intrigue.

Bearded and beanie-clad Oisima appears like a beat-making Matisyahu as he opens his first Brisbane show with slow jams that slowly work in some soulful bottom-end grooves. With a blend of jazz, hip hop and soul, the Adelaide producer's talent lies in sprinkling a solid base of smooth synths and beats with plenty of colourful flourishes of melody, combining elements such as energetic flute over lazy sax that sounds utterly appalling on paper but completely work with his deft touch. New single, Everything About Her, featuring the bright vocal of Annabel Weston, brings the high point of the set that winds down with grimier bass vibes and a wave of harp-like punctuations placing Oisima as a master of both beauty and groove.

Oliver Tank brings live vocal and percussion plus a guitar to tonight's ambient beat theme. With slightly menacing yet gentle keys, Embrace creates a lovely soundscape reminiscent of Massive Attack's understated poignancy. Treating the audience to tracks from his forthcoming EP, Slow Motion Music, a recurring Tank theme is underlined by a languid newbie that holds up the apt line, “Time slows down when you walk into the room” with pace-appropriate strums and beats. He has a tremendous skill in working huge emotion from subtle beds of sound that complement careful word rhythms; “A cradle rocking next to her in perfect time with her heartbeat” from Help You Breathe highlights this point well, considering there's barely more than delicate synths in a supporting role. Tank's abrupt thanks at the end of every song, as though to signal its end, is distracting though. Having lulled the audience into such beautiful, dream-like states it's annoying to be interrupted rather than carried through to the next motion. As the night closes, he bangs Snoop and Pharrell's Drop It Like It's Hot into Beautiful, throwing some big '80s guitar licks in before pausing mid-way through the tasteful auto-tune vocal of Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion to insert his 'thank you's. Each song stands up on its own tonight, though the set hasn't flowed as wondrously as Tank's previous visits to Brisbane.