The fourth night of Decibel commenced with a name I am less familiar with – the young producer Taylor McFerrin out of Brooklyn. Where Autechre has spanned the Showbox Market stage with elaborate equipment not twenty-four hours prior, McFerrin assumes a humble presence with a modest rig and appropriately soft-spoken remembrances of past travels through Seattle. He opens with a bright, ambient piece full of dream pop timbres and melodious swells in volume. His style is immediately reminiscent of Bonobo’s and his choice as an opening act for the downtempo 
behemoth becomes immensely evident. Kaleidoscopic displays of tertiary colors and effervescent sparks swim in and out of focus behind him while McFerrin transitions into a vocal beatbox intro, notable for its strangeness in the context of his set and for how successfully it meshes with his vein of airy electronic music. The crowd swallowed the performance whole with great adoration which made for a very pleasing start to the night.
With McFerrin’s set drawing to a close, I opted for a small walk some dozen blocks away to catch the second half of STWO’s appearance at The Crocodile. The Parisian DJ was nestled in the farthest corner of the stage near completely obscured in thick synthetic fog bathed in neon light. The mood in the venue was perhaps the closest I would come to a club atmosphere during the festival weekend which came as something of a surprise given that I was more familiar with STWO’s more restrained studio discography. His characteristically prominent beats were underscored with egotistical hip-hop which made for a curious contrast to the show I had just left, but far from unpleasant.
I retraced my steps back to the Showbox (the path between the two venues becoming increasingly familiar to me this week) just in time to witness Simon Green, better known as Bonobo, ironing out some technical auditory difficulties. I have had the pleasure of seeing Bonobo a few times prior in both a DJ and live band capacity and despite his albums being considerably well known to me, when his set commenced I was firmly reminded of just how deserving he is of all his accolades. He is undeniably one of the ye olde masters of the electronic craft. In the decade and a half since his debut of Animal Magic, the multi-instrumentalist and all-around musical savant has honed his music into something truly exceptional, intertwining reconstructed gems from both obscure and renown artists (many from his labelmates on Ninja Tune) with new interpretations of his own crowd-pleasers such as Black Sands‘ “Prelude” and The North Borders’ “Cirrus.” It is the sort of art you can tell one doesn’t happen into by luck but is the product of intensive study, revision, and patience. Bonobo flows sweetly from haunting chorals to ephemeral dance jams all while backlit by geodesic tesseracts and neon labyrinths, much to the whoops of joy and approval from the atypically young audience. It was one of the most memorable performances in my recent concert-going experience and the sort of show that sticks with you even after departing the packed venue.
Before the end of the night I made it back the the Crocodile for the encore of Mick Jenkins. Though my sight of him was as brief as the hour was late, it was something of a nice addendum to the night.
