Hemlocke Springs is the weirdest pop star on the rise currently. And honestly, that is the biggest compliment. The North Carolina singer, songwriter, and producer is a long way from home on her first Australian tour for Laneway Festival as well as two headline shows. For the Sydney date, she had just hopped off a flight from Auckland after the weekend 1 run of the festival, and as she takes the stage of the packed out Oxford Art Factory she is showing no signs of compromise. 

Yelling into the microphone immediately as she begins “Heavun”, Hemlocke quickly highlights a chaotic energy that continually lifts the show throughout its duration. Rolling straight into songs like the dark experimental “stranger danger!”, the breakout “gimme all ur luv”, the stunning “ecknee1”, and the playful “pos”, she finds a way to keep the energy high between the varied set. Songs like “the train to nowhere” and “going…going…GONE!” have a very theatrical nature to them and bring the oddball persona to the front. “Sydney! I did it!” She exclaims as she looks around the cheering packed crowd. In-between a lot of giggles and monologues, she won the crowd over with her natural charm. Thanking the crowd for coming out, she launched into the viral “girlfriend” which they didn’t let her down by screaming every word. Closing out the show with “sever the blight”, she finished on an ethereal high with an encore chant then erupting the moment she left the stage. Unfortunately she had no further songs to perform but the crowd really wanted more of her, and that is exciting for an artist who is still very much introducing herself.