Live Review: Volumes

Sydney's multi-venue festival, Volumes, returned in 2016 bigger and better after a successful inauguration in 2015. The festival, which took place on two stages across Oxford Art Factory and one stage at Cliff Dive, brought together acts of many diverse genres for a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend.

Friday night saw Australia's answer to R&B royalty, Silent Jay x Jace XL, the electric and spellbinding Koi Child, and the captivating and groovy 30/70 take to the stage in an exemplary showcase of homegrown talent.

With 22 acts across the three stages, revellers from all different scenes joined in the festivities. The crowds converged as we delved further into the night, moving from stage to stage, moving and grooving to myriad melodies, loops and breaks.

Godriguez, fast becoming known as the producer who makes Sampa The Great so great, demonstrated his musical talent on guitar in OAF's Main Stage. It was a pleasure that few embraced, the 7.30pm set time warding off all except musicians and the faithful. To watch Godriguez build a song is like watching a work of art unfold: strokes of colour come into focus, levitate in a sonic cloud, stretch to their limits and then die away. The rhythm section provided a complementary flow to a set brimming with experimentation and cross-cultural-inspired beats and riffs.

Over in the Gallery, the audience was met with a unique experience when seven-piece (usually nine), 30/70 took to the stage. Through an undulating tide of horns (trombone and trumpet), soft keys, smooth bass, starry guitar and versatile drums came the honeyed vocals of Allysha Joy. The band moved from delectable neo-soul-infused songs to groovier R&B-tinged tracks, with ecstatic incursions from the instrumentalists. All the while, the extensive range of their lead singer proved a graceful-yet-powerful platform for lyrics to cut through.

Koi Child ignited the crowd back over on the Main Stage with music that got audience members throwing their hands up, shaking their hips and smiling. The band brought their characteristic balance between tightness and looseness, but their energy was down a little — probably as a result of the flight over from Perth. "Five hours, motherfuckers," a bleary eyed frontman, Cruz Patterson said.

Rainbow Chan delivered a show peppered with energy and pizzazz. The melodies entered the audience's ears with mosaic brilliance and the band's pop sensibilities were met with an experimental rejigging and reimagining.

Kimchi Princi's performance was big, bold and brimming with deconstruction — afterthoughts of pop music. The poetess delivered a colourful and engaging show crowds are unlikely to forget.

Electronic sets took centre stage as the night progressed with acts like Christopher Port and Alba keeping the party alive in the Gallery, Charles Murdoch and Dro Carey inciting some dirty-bad fun on the dancefloor, and Sidechains and Melty making sure those that made the relative trek to Cliff Dive found a place among like-bodied people.