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Live Review: Luboku is as intricate and expansive as ever on 'Solar Flare'

21 January 2019 | 5:10 pm | Max Lewis

To celebrate his upcoming debut headline tour, Melbourne producer Luboku has dropped 'Solar Flare', a heroes' journey told through emotional electronica.

We here at the 'Sneaks can't help but feel a little proud of LUBOKU. We've watched this Melbourne producer grow from humble beginnings ever since we first covered his banger 'Without You', and now after his stellar debut EP The Surface, he's setting out on his very own headline tour for the first time ever. To celebrate the occasion, he's dropped 'Solar Flare', a live-show staple that now serves as a bridge between the Luboku we know and love, and the magic yet to come.

Luboku is all about intricate and layered electronic house with an edge of experimentalism and poppy hooks. The handful of tracks he's got under his belt display his many facets pretty well; 'Without You' leans towards the poppier side, 'None of You' is more reserved and intimate, and '50 Days' is all about expansive experimentation. 'Solar Flare' is a perfect blend of all three styles, and the perfect thing to tide us over until his tour.

In case you've never listened, Luboku is really, really good at arranging his bleeps and his bloops in such a way to get an emotional response. Not only that, he can also arrange his smacks and his bangs to make something irresistibly danceable at the same time. Such black magic takes some serious production chops, and 'Solar Flare' is proof of this.

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Starting slow with sombre piano and field recordings, it quickly expands with some esoteric percussion and hopeful bass melodies. A flute-like hook with high attack evokes a fantastical, almost childlike feeling which is quickly replaced with a four-to-the-floor explosion towards the end. It shifts from pop innocence, intricate minimalism and expansive magic on a dime, as though moving through Luboku's body of work at hyper-speed.

Seeing how much Luboku has grown over the past year, 'Solar Flare' really feels like a celebration. Under the guise of electronica it displays a heroes journey - a lofty goal, the humble beginnings, turmoil which is overcome through determination and strength, and finally the climactic ending which sees the hero changed for the better. In other, less wanky words: Luboku good, 'Solar Flare' good, check out debut tour below.

LUBOKU - THE SURFACE EP TOUR

Jan 31 - Golden Age Cinema & Bar – Sydney      RSVP - Facebook Event

Feb 1 - Proud Mary's - Central Coast (NSW)       RSVP - Facebook Event

Feb 2 - The Workers Club - Melbourne                 RSVP - Facebook Event

Feb 9 - Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle (NSW)     RSVP - Facebook Event

IMAGE: SUPPLIED

Words by MAX LEWIS
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