Saturday (May 23) festival headliner Sarah Lipstate returned to OBEY with her Noveller project to make some church rafters tremble. With a set of songs drawing primarily from her recent album Fantastic Planet, it was immediately clear that her loop-driven guitar excursions had a very definite travel plan. Building with elements of complex progressive rock and Eno-esque crystalline ambience, Lipstate was also not afraid to shatter her delicate constructions with a stomach-shuddering power chord.
Her performance style embraced rock gestures, sudden trapdoor plunges and modified windmill strums, setting her apart from the usual image of the experimental artist. Partly because of this self-assuredness, but mostly due to the faultless craftsmanship of her guitar playing, she carved a daunting and undeniable shape alone on stage. Her tech-savvy performance was all thriller.
Her performance style embraced rock gestures, sudden trapdoor plunges and modified windmill strums, setting her apart from the usual image of the experimental artist. Partly because of this self-assuredness, but mostly due to the faultless craftsmanship of her guitar playing, she carved a daunting and undeniable shape alone on stage. Her tech-savvy performance was all thriller.