For a decade O'Flynn has been a steady presence in the UK's left-of-centre dance scene, and his long-overdue Melbourne debut brought that pedigree south.
He first surfaced in 2015 with early records on Blip Discs, and things moved quickly from there.
Debut album Aletheia landed in 2019 through Silver Bear, a gentler chapter came next: 2021 single Talia opened Panthus, the more contemplative sister to Hundred Flowers, made for headphones rather than peak-time carnage.
He joined Bonobo on Otomo, paired with Frazer Ray (once known as Soundbwoy Killah) for the album Shimmer on Ninja Tune offshoot Technicolour, and knocked out a run of tracks with Barry Can’t Swim. A Rinse FM residency and the debut release on Barry Can’t Swim’s Earth’s Only Paradise label filled out the résumé.
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So how does it all come together?
With a lot more variety, hard-house and breakbeat than you might expect. His live shows have a really definitive evolution to them, you can hear him working through the gears are the night progresses.
By his own telling, gut feeling does most of the work. His output is less a gearhead’s laboratory and more a scavenger’s craft – recordings captured out in the world, lucky accidents and dusty crate finds get woven into tracks, with the source material deciding where each one heads. It’s a method that lets a track drift between moods and tempos without ever sounding stitched together.
That instinct fuels Kairos, his third album and the record ostensibly behind this tour. Out 17 July on Panthus, its 15 tracks took three years to pull together and include Swordman Kitala on Sekete. O’Flynn calls the albums “little snapshots into my life” – family get-togethers, people crossed on the road and tiny everyday moments, all poured into sound.
Set that patient, texture-first studio work beside the live show and you’ve got two very different animals. Where the albums reward a close ear, the sets chase heat and motion – the same restless curiosity, cranked for a crowd. He’s stress-tested it everywhere, from a coveted Phonox residency to festival slots like FLY Open Air, Pukkelpop and Lost Village, plus a headline night at London’s KOKO. It’s why the same name can pack out a sweatbox club and still command a main stage.
The southern-hemisphere bow carried the lot.
Ten years deep, O’Flynn sits in a rare sweet spot – equally suited to soundtracking a quiet late-night drive and levelling a sweaty in-the-round venue. Turns out a sharp ear and a bit of patience can still pair nicely with a bit of brute force.
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