One has to feel for the sleep-deprived punters who just want to have a breezy morning. Many of the first acts this year have not been all that easy-going, whether it be the electro-fueled unease of Priscilla Ahn or the outright sludge chug of Bo Ningen. So maybe the tired folks at the White Stage Sunday morning were excited when Tavito Nanao started his set by playing a song lifting the melody from “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Smooth sailing, right?

Nope, because his very next song was more like sound vignettes of Nanao imitating various things, ranging from weather systems to a black hole. The latter involved him playing a few dissonant chords on his acoustic guitar while occasionally screeching into the mic. At the same time, his onstage partner played saxophone. It was arty as heck, and engrossing.

And he followed it up with a sax-heavy, Auto-tuned R&B jam, that saw Nanao put his guitar down, stand on his upturned chair and eventually drop the mic…literally…so he could scream into his echo microphone. His next song was a more conventional folk number (well, except for the saxophone blasts) save for his throaty voice. Then he launched into a colorful pop song called with a screamed chorus of “happy talk!” followed by a call-and-response section that the crowd shouted along with. Nanao’s set was hardly an easy-breezy affair, and thank goodness for that.