Melodies that sound like from a universe far away, a voice vibrating on almost angelic frequencies, and beats that seem to be rising up from the depths of a deep, primordial void somewhere at the heart of our world, releasing sounds that seem to spring from aeons long before the beginning of time – that is the sound of unique electronic band Rüfüs du Sol from Australia, whose name is pretty much as exceptional as the harmony of their songs. And luckily for their fans in Europe, the band graced the Panama Open Air Festival which just took off in Bonn with an impressive headline show that proves the festival organizers´ good taste just as much as the band´s unusual capability to mesmerize a crowd.
Rüfüs du Sol is an Australian alternative dance group from Sydney that emerged in 2010. Consisting of lead singer Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt, the band made its debut with the album Atlas, followed by the highly successful works Solace (2018) and Surrender (2021). Combining the sounds of electronic dance music, synth and trance techno tunes, the band is known for songs such as „No Place“, „Innerbloom“ or „Treat You Better“. The Melbourne newspaper „The Age“ called Solace “a triumphant record”, writing that “electronic music is often thought of as harsh and unlistenable, but Solace is delicate and incredibly sophisticated in its production. The lyrics hinge on one central theme of yearning, whether that be for change, company or space.” And Kat Benin from Billboard felt that “the whole album feels emergent, like a new plant breaking through the soil to reach the light.“
It is these meaningful intricacies of sound, soaked in bittersweet frequencies of longing, searching, and finding and made powerful by deeply grounded beats, that mark the signature sound of Rüfüs du Sol and turn their live performances into an almost spiritual experience.
At Panama Open Air, to be able to get a crowd gasping that had minutes before chanted German radio tracks alongside Marteria should count as an achievement on its own already. But more so, Rüfüs du Sol captured its fans´ attention like sirens – drawing everybody remotely familiar with their production into a spell: 75 minutes where time and place, and anything else as banal, cedes to exist and there is nothing but the sound of music, flickering lights, dancing bodies, dark fog from the smoke machine, and the stormy sky above.
And so the set leaves us enchanted by the galactic sounds of a realm where art and nature become one. Rüfüs du Sol has given us a sneak preview into the otherworldly – or maybe rather into an inner world, into the forces of nature working in the making of these artists, into our own profound fabric that resonates so with the band´s music.
Rüfüs du Sol´s music has always felt like a reminiscence to the desert, or the ocean, or the sky. And in their performance at Panama, amidst the wind gushing around, the storm clouds circling over our head, shreds of smoke blowing into our faces, this is the exact state of mind that the band has taken us to – the sounds of infinity. There is no place we would rather be.
The Wrapper 