Concert review: LEISURE, at Crystal Palace

It's hard to keep a straight face calling any New Zealand act a supergroup. Leisure, the self-described "man band" who has been drip feeding cosy tracks for the last year and a half, is one of the handful you could probably get away with.

The five members - Jaden Parkes, Jordan Arts, Tom Young, Djeisan Suskov and Josh Fountain - rose from the embers of other musical projects, including Goodnight Nurse, Kids of 88 and Kids in Space, as well as producing for a number of other local acts. Their new project Leisure, they said, was something to do with the spare time away from their day jobs.

I was cautioned the band had "too many cool guys with guitars", but obviously good musical brains on them. I went in with only the knowledge of their 18-month-old, 3 million-times-streamed first release Got It Bad, and more Bobby McFerrin on my mind than I would have liked.

There's something to be said about a local band selling out the 600 person capacity Crystal Palace on the back of an album they hadn't even released. The hype the band had generated through their sporadic releases and jaded, media averse promotion was now, however, at a point of reckoning.

But after a year of planning and considerable buildup, on Friday night Leisure delivered on that.

Leisure makes a soundtrack for the supine position. It's accessible and inoffensive, but surprisingly luxe, and dripping with sensuality. It's mature and full - a lush, psychedelic, electronic R&B sound underpinned by groove and melody.

The first 'act' of the show was solid - tight, but uninspiring - but something happened in the second half. Leisure took a movie theatre and morphed it into some transcendent, ethereal space. Rows emptied and the aisles filled, and there was a collective realisation this band had crafted something actually quite remarkable.

The music has a sophisticated carnality about it, yet the tracks are quite simple - largely cyclical hooks and licks, underlaid by mostly steady beats, and a relatively standard structure - but it's intricately crafted. Tracks build and swell, and creep up on you.

It's clear the uncomplicated structure is not for a lack of musicality, but the opposite - each movement reeks of a depth of acumen, emblematic of their combined decades spent in and around the industry, and knowledge of what just works.

The lyrics aren't about to win a Silver Scroll, but are more importantly melodic. Parkes' spacey, breathy vocals provide a vehicle that not only can his ideas - desire and longing - be transported on, but they function instrumentally, in both senses of the word, to the betterment of the track. For all the talk of love, Leisure is the kind of music you couldn't stay faithful around.

You can quite easily tell how a night was received by observing the atmosphere afterwards. The post-show atmosphere buzzed, seriously, and a memorable haze was cast over the venue. It was a rare live show you walked away from stunned.

The band claims "leisure" is not only a name, but some sort of semi-facetious MO. But it's not just some nonchalant, effortless "thing" they threw together - they know they're special. With close ties to an international record label and industry contacts aplenty, there are most certainly conversations going on about how much longer Leisure will stay a side-gig.