Evian Christ review – tension and release at Melbourne headline show

Evian Christ performed at Max Watt’s, Melbourne, on Sunday 9 June.

Strobes. This is what I’d been telling anyone who me asked what to expect from Evian Christ’s first show in Melbourne. Lots of strobes, and maybe also “Adelante.”

The English DJ and producer makes music that’s saturated and trancey, but with moments of post-club experimentation apt to please fans of Burial or Oneohtrix Point Never. His debut album, Revanchist, contains squidgy, crackly ASMR sounds and earnest, hands-in-the-air Paul van Dyk moments. But the promise of high-powered strobes is what really got me interested in Evian Christ.

For context, after dabbling in production for the likes of Kanye and Tinashe, Evian Christ launched the club night TranceParty in London in 2013. The party’s name sets you up for the sort of music that fills Christ’s DJ sets, throwing back to the supersaw synths, repetitive melodies and endless crescendos of the genre’s 90s and early 00s heyday.

But TranceParty also aims to go beyond the grammatical norms of a conventional club night, and this is where the strobes come in. Tonight, the entire length of the stage is lined with strobes that shine out at the audience. It looks like every smoke machine in Melbourne has been hauled in for the occasion, too.

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We’re not getting the full-scale TranceParty experience, however – Christ released Revanchist last October, and this is what brings him to Australia. Songs from Revanchist dominate the setlist, charting a course from the crunchy, bulldozer sounds of “On Embers” to the eerie abstraction and dank breakbeats of “Xkyrgios.”

The show is characterised by tension and release. Extended, wistful buildups give way to blaring synth toplines and four-on-the-floor techno beats, only for the beats to drop out before you can completely let loose. Christ’s commitment to the DJ equivalent of edging is gutsy, but it’s also a bit frustrating.

Rather than a continuous DJ mix, the setlist is organised into distinct tracks, most of which fade out to the sound of enthusiastic applause before Christ begins another long build towards catharsis. We keep waiting for him to slam on some vintage trance and keep us surfing in the sublime for more than 30 seconds. Eventually we get there, courtesy of the set’s closing song, the Bladee collab “Yxguden,” its rave-up synths and sugar-sweet melodies dunking us deep in a pool of nostalgia.

Quibbles aside, everything Evian Christ plays sounds brilliant, whether at the softer or louder end of the decibel meter. The strobes induce altered visual perception that lasts for the duration of the set, and the combined effect of the lighting and smoke machines makes it feel like you’re at a blockbuster school disco. If only he’d play “Adelante.”

The strobes also provide a prime people-watching opportunity. Some faces look awestruck and statue-like, others laugh and scream, acknowledging the ridiculousness of the whole affair. Someone clutches a pole while navigating a K-hole. Friends come over to scoop them up.

There’s a man standing at the barrier on the right-hand side of the stage. He and his companion look about two decades older than the crowd’s median age, but that’s not getting in the way of this guy’s fun. On multiple occasions, he gets out his phone to film the strobe assault. A friend turns to me, laughing, and says with affection, “He’s just filming white light!” I laugh too and say, “Sublime.”

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