ACL Review: Sylvan Esso

Electronic acts still face their genre’s base challenge: live performance. Who wants to watch someone slumped over a laptop when they can catch someone wailing on a guitar solo? Rappers have hype men and Canadian duo Purity Ring builds intricate stage sets, but Durham, N.C.’s Sylvan Esso relies on singer Amelia Meath, whose dances moves rival Beyoncé's.

That briefly worked at Sunday afternoon’s ACL set, when producer Nick Sanborn’s computer overheated just as he and Meath were getting, well, warmed-up. Meath graciously stepped in with a collection of ocean-themed jokes, but at the point that technical difficulties threatened to derail the whole shebang, Sylvan Esso made a brilliant recovery.

Sanborn’s digital beat creations got the massive crowd moving. Yet it was Meath’s vocals that took center stage. It takes a true talent to pull off a cover of Beyoncé’s “***Flawless,” which she partly folded into “Dress.”

The duo slayed the trippy “Hey Mami” and rode the crowd’s enthusiasm for the imminently danceable “Dreamy Bruises,” both from 2014’s self-titled debut. Essential track “Coffee,” with creeping, understated beats, tried valiantly but couldn’t override Meath, who bucks the trend of electronic vocalists taking a backseat to production.