Liv.e and Obongjayar

Hailed by NME as "R&B’s new avant-garde star", American singer-songwriter, rapper, soul and jazz performer Liv.e (pronounced Liv) comes to RISING riding a wave of hype for her second album Girl in the Half Pearl. Coupling her hypnotic voice and unique writing over dusty loops and sun-soaked production, Liv.e makes songs that are both eclectic and timeless.

Joining her at The Forum will be Nigerian-born London-based rapper and songwriter Obongjayar. Since releasing an early demo on SoundCloud in 2016, it’s been clear that Steven Umoh—the man behind the moniker—has a singular ability to infuse rap, song and spoken-word into soft, smouldering clouds of afrobeat, soul and hip-hop.

It's going to be a bold, genre-defiant double bill. And, in support, is Elle Shimada. The Tokyo-born, Melbourne-based artist is a fixture of her adopted city’s jazz and electronic scenes. Whether she’s scraping cheese graters for percussion, building house tracks from candied keys, or collaborating on symphonic R&B—she can find an infectious musicality in almost anything.