Tanizawa Tomofumi’s Saturday morning set at the Gypsy Avalon stage started in a humid mountain mist. Not quite rain, but almost there. This worked well with his opening, a mix of organic nature sounds blended with swooping and chirping digital effects. This segwayed into an epic, 25 minute effects and guitar fueled psychedelic journey. The droning pace of the slow, cinematic build was punctuated with whirls of white noise like fighter jets screaming by overhead, walls of distorted guitar and brief moments of straight singer-songwriter calm. As the jam heightened the clouds started to part and the sun started to shine, making it feel like mother nature was in on the trip too.

Towards the end of this tour de force, a switch was flipped and the bass amp started picking up the lower frequencies of the guitar in a way that sounded like a drum machine, and the song ended with the feel of an electronic trance number. What a way to start your Saturday.

After his first extended freakout, the audience was treated to two more straightforward numbers which showcased the singer’s beautiful, emotive voice. While more folky at this point, inventive use of delay and effects made the sound feel lush, vibrant and at times almost technicolor. That is quite a feat considering it was all done by one man without the aid of a musical backing track.

The set’s strongest moment may have come right at the end, the singer’s refrain ‘goodbye earth’ repeated in a meek voice which grew, along with the guitars and effects into a crescendo of noise and a plaintively spoken desire to leave the world behind and reach the stars.

All in all Tanizawa’s set fit the tie-dye mood of the Gypsy Avalon stage perfectly, and did a great job setting the tone for the Saturday to come.