In a town where for two weeks it is socially acceptable to wander the streets in nothing but some artfully placed beads, it’s refreshing to squeeze into Latitude 30 and spot William Doyle, aka East India Youth, looking endearingly sweaty and British in a full grey suit and maroon tie.
He may cut an unassuming figure compared to the flamboyant crowd, but as the Mercury-nominated Doyle opens his set with his newest track, Turn Away, the roaring synth and pulsing bass begins to reverberate through the venue and the sound seems too huge to come from the skinny 23-year-old on stage.
His emotionally charged, Neil Tennant-esque vocals and voracious guitar sound captivate against the sweeping electronica, with each track building into an all-engulfing wall of sound.
There’s no doubt Doyle is very much in the zone. Throwing his body from guitar to keyboard to laptop with abandon and sass, by the end of his short set his violent onstage love affair with his equipment proves mesmerising to watch. Doyle’s Midi controller stopped working during the final track, but by that point his energy had reached such a peak, it didn’t even matter at all.
