#oyeme

Anjimile

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Talk about artists making the most out of not just minimal setups, but the spaciousness of their voices. Last Wednesday at the Hideout, North Carolina's Anjimile and local singer-songwriter Oyeme enraptured the room with mostly guitar, pedals, and vocals. The former, touring his excellent new album You're Free to Go (4AD), presented intimate meditations on family, relationships, and queerness, rife with fingerpicked acoustic lines and deep harmonies with multi-instrumentalist Sinclair Palmer. Given the rich tapestry of sounds that engulfs You're Free to Go, going into the show, I wondered whether I'd miss the drums, strings, and piano. I didn't and instead discovered other elements that shone live, the jaunty riffs of "Afarin", the layered vocals of "Like You Really Mean It". As Anjimile left the stage, yours truly inquired, "One more?" at which point he nonchalantly delivered a stunning cover of Frank Ocean classic "Self Control", whose own outro's echoes proved tailor-made for Anjimile's expansive style.

Oyeme

Oyeme, meanwhile, only has a handful of published recordings to her name, the most recent of which, the resonant "philtrum (kissing ghost)", was a highlight of her set. The majority of what she played were sparse, yet mighty solo versions of songs from an upcoming full-band album, purportedly titled Partscaster, still in the demos stage. Judging by the performances, like that of the reverb-heavy title track, the album should give more oomph to Oyeme's already nicely established bedroom shoegaze sound. She repeatedly remarked throughout her set that she wished we were hearing the full-band versions; while I'm excited to hear them, the solo set effectively reflected the vulnerability prevalent within the songs, which is why her music is overall so captivating and relatable.