English expat producer Third Floor has a penchant for theatrics.

His most recent musical offerings are performed behind a humanoid backlit mask that changes colour depending on the emotion and BPM of the tracks he’s playing. The reasoning behind the masked anonymity lies in his desire to champion a more romantic, emotional and uninhibited version of himself than his daytime self, Aaron Bannie, allows.

Veiled behind a larger-than-life and intricately put-together face, Bannie is protected against self-consciousness. “[I’m] unhindered by social norms and constraints,” he says. His brand new live show for the project will premiere in Sydney this month, at the UNDR Ctrl second birthday party that doubles as an Oxjam fundraiser.

Bannie’s four-track EP Dream State is spacious, with a tendency to sweep up the listener. The Third Floor project itself is influenced by art, dance and film, and these touchstones will be echoed in the live show, with visuals and human movement featuring throughout the performance. Sydney musician and filmmaker J Motor (Jonathan Vassallo) was enlisted to create a four-part short film series to coincide with each of Dream State’s tracks.

“[The films cover] the dark, ambient story of love with all four songs reflecting different stages of a relationship,” Bannie explains. “[Vassallo] and his team were able to take [my] ideas and bring them to life on the screen. You will definitely be seeing some more Third Floor and J Motor collaborations in the near future.”

Indeed, J Motor’s films depict a story of prescription-pill-popping, kidnapping, boyfriend-napping, partying and elaborate choreography. But what of the musical influences behind the project itself?

Growing up, Bannie says he “listened to a lot of trip hop and early house music, which has definitely filtered through into my production”. Sure enough, the nod to trip hop can be found in the spaciousness and dream-like ambience of Dream State. Massive Attack are his “all-time favourite artist”, Bannie says, and the Bristol pioneers have had a huge influence on his sound.

Being an English-born producer with a Sydney postcode, Bannie is also “partial to UK electronic acts such as Snakehips and Bondax”, but has an equally soft spot for Australian producers Flume, Ta-ku, Deutsch Duke, The Tapes, Kilter and fellow UNDR Ctrl artist Roland Tings.

“The Australian electronic scene is doing really great things all over the world, and I do love to keep up with all the local producers,” says Bannie. Among his closest peers are Set Mo, who Bannie gigged with in their earliest days. “I’ve watched them chase their dreams, grow their brand and become one of Australia’s best duos and producers,” he says.

Besides his recent EP release and imminent first live show, Bannie is dropping the track ‘Can’t Do This Alone’ in August, featuring emerging dance vocalist Duke, who’s also featured on notable tracks with the likes of Elizabeth Rose and Flight Facilities. In the meantime, Bannie will help celebrate his agency’s second birthday this month with the Purple Sneakers DJs, World Champion DJs, Rainbow Chan, Roland Tings, Motorik Vibe Council, Adi Toohey, Luen and more. The event doubles as Oxjam’s Sydney launch for the month-long August charity festival, and all proceeds raised on the night will go towards helping Oxfam combat poverty across the globe.

[Third Floor photo by Zanerobe]

TheUNDR Ctrl 2nd Birthday x Oxjam Fundraiseris on Saturday July 30 atOxford Art Factory; and Third Floor’sDream State is out now through Inertia Access.

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