A few years back, I was supposed to see RY X in a friggin’ church somewhere around Harvard Square. It seemed the perfect combination, an angelic voice within a building designed with natural acoustics in mind. It part of the lineup one year of Together, a now-defunct festival that highlighted electronic and experimental music at an array of local venues. Unfortunately, for reasons I don’t remember (I can’t even necessarily remember what year this was in), that show got canceled. 

While the Australian singer and producer wasn’t booked in such an austere venue this time around*, there was a sort of reverence among the audience that came out to see him at the Sinclair: Closed eyes, arms raised towards the the sky, rhythmic bobbing of the head, and gentle swaying of the body. 

Although his music unquestionably falls within the electronic realm, RY X (real name Ry Cuming) brings a singer/songwriter ethos along to boot. It’s not surprising that he has cited Jeff Buckley as one of his biggest influences**. He blends gentle falsetto vocals, contemplative lyricism, and acoustic guitar with drum machines and synth patches. All the talents in his musical arsenal are rooted in his know-how as a producer. This skill has received recognition by artists as big as Drake, who tapped the Australian up to produce “Sticky” off the rapper’s recent Honestly, Nevermind, which saw the Canadian rapper dip his toes into African and deep house beats. Given Drizzy’s penchant for moody emotional expression, this seems like a fitting collab. It stands as one of the better tracks on an otherwise forgettable album

With a set mostly buoyed by tracks from his recent album Blood Moon, released in June of this year, RY X’s performance doesn’t run too long. Longtime fans will be pleased that he still digs deep in his bag, performing songs from 2016’s Dawn as well as “Berlin” from the 2013 EP of the same name. 

While this may not be the case in other venues, for whatever reason the floor of the Sinclair was filled with several rows of plastic folding chairs, offering concertgoers the opportunity to sit. While that was an inviting thought at the beginning of the evening, as the night went on the hard plastic got to be more than a little uncomfortable. The intent made sense: his set starts soft and gentle. However, RY X has crafted such a cathartic song list for these performances – with tracks that build towards huge choruses and mountainous climaxes – that as much as you want to relax and absorb it all at the start, within a few minutes you’ll want to be on your feet, moving to the rhythm. 

Check out our photos from the show below. 

*Arguably, the Sinclair is the closest thing I can think of that holds for me the same spiritual resonance as holy buildings do for those of faith. 

**I only found this detail out while sitting to write this piece, but during the show the thought “Jeff Buckley would have gone off with a looper pedal” absolutely popped into my head, and I even have a tweet to prove it.