As part of ALWAYS LIVE 2024, Anyma made his Australian debut with the viral audiovisual show Genesys. Transforming Flemington Racecourse into an immersive dystopian trip, the sold-out crowd rallied in Melbourne’s heatwave for Anyma’s only Australasian show.
Anyma blended audio with dramatic, character-driven visuals for Genesys. Building on his first solo album, Genesys explored the crossover between humans and machines, using an I, Robot style automaton that connected the narrative throughout the set and to his other performances across the globe.
The show delivered on its promise for state-of-the-art sound engineering and one of the largest LED screens ever built in the southern hemisphere. Visuals were perfectly synced with each track, creating a harmonious and mesmerising event it was impossible to turn away from.
While towers of light framing the expansive stage, immersive lighting was not limited for those in close proximity. Mirroring towers that pulsed with the beats were littered throughout the space and beams with laser precision frequently shot out across the racecourse, adding to the thrilling sensory experience.
In one particularly striking moment, a mostly still image of the automaton in a futuristic city shifted from night to day before morphing to an underground mirror world, with spaceships buzzing between the high-rises. In another, perhaps more disturbing but no less enthralling, visual, limbs reduced to muscles and tendons fed into each other with no clear endpoint.
While Anyma’s visual focus and impressive tech induced an electronica-induced endorphin rush, however, his music often lacked depth and layering, particularly when considered against other audiovisual techno artists.
Read: Music review: Live At The Gardens with Chet Faker, ALWAYS LIVE Festival
At points Genesys felt merely reminiscent of Eric Prydz’s HOLO and somewhat lacking musical maturity. Yet where Prydz’s narrative felt driven by human emotion, Anyma’s felt devoid of it, creating a fever of excitement for human reliance on technology. With previous collaborator Grimes having tweeted “My life is in the hands of the machine now” after their Tomorrowland crossover, there remains a question about how far Anyma’s work will rely on technology and what it may turn into. With an upcoming ‘The End of Genesys’ Las Vegas Sphere residency and Genesys marking Anyma’s debut solo album, a greater exploration is sure to come.
Anyma’s Genesys played for one night only on 23 November 2024 at Flemington Racecourse. The event was part of ALWAYS LIVE, which runs until 8 December 2024.
