- Performing on a Monday night is no mean feat, especially when competing with an England football match. Nonetheless, Lone and his supporting DJs returned to Hackney's Oslo club following last years residency for an audiovisual show to promote Levitate, his recent album for R&S Records.
Things weren't looking promising as we arrived towards the end of Konx-om-Pax's set. The few audience members scattered around the 375-capacity venue were slumped against the walls, desperately checking phones for football updates. The awkward stage layout, with the decks facing away from the audience, didn't help to populate the sparse dance floor, which was unfortunate considering Konx's selection of uplifting and deftly mixed house cuts.
As set times were posted earlier that day, the majority of the crowd arrived all at once. Within the space of a few minutes, an empty club was suddenly heaving with expectant fans. The atmosphere lifted, with even the most exhausted audience members cheering as Lone took to the stage with drummer Chris Boot and Konx, Lone's frequent art collaborator and audiovisual designer.
Levitate is a short but sweet album without enough material for an hour-long show. To compensate, Lone dedicated the first half of his set to some of his best-loved material from Reality Testing, including "2 is 8," "Begin To Begin" and "Airglow Fires," all of which the crowd greatly appreciated. Boot assailed his drumset at breakneck speed, accentuating Lone's punchy, off-kilter rhythms with such accuracy it took a while to realise that the sound wasn't coming from a laptop.
It was only at the halfway point, when Lone pulled out his new, '90s rave-inspired tracks, like the fast and furious bangers "Vapour Trail" and "Alpha Wheel," that the mood began to falter slightly. While this frenetic pace wasn't to everyone's taste, most people maintained their spirited energy and grew ever sweatier as they kept up with the drummer's skittering breakbeats.
For a gig billed as an audiovisual show, it came as a surprise that the accompanying visuals didn't pack much of a punch. Although Konx-om-Pax's handiwork—a morphing film reel of cartoon dinosaurs, real-life waves and graphics resembling a Windows 98 screensaver—matched Lone's psychedelic, synth-heavy music, the small screen was partly obscured and, at times, felt a little pointless. Despite this, the club's atmosphere and impeccable soundsystem, coupled with Lone's bold and brash sonic palette, made for an enjoyable show that more than compensated for England's disappointing match result.