French producer, and sound master if you will, Vincent Fenton — more popularly known as FKJ, short for French Kiwi Juice — brought the new French house sound to a sold-out Orpheum Friday night. Some say he’s at the forefront of the Parisian electronic scene. If anything, he is part of something much bigger.

In a universe where genres such as alternative R&B, lo-fi hip-hop and trap house-jazz exist, FKJ embodies a fusion of the three sprinkled in with French funk. Most recently making the main lineup for Coachella last month and booked to play at Lollapalooza on August 1, the Frenchman is picking up a lot of traction worldwide.

The stage on Friday was ornate, with instruments including three guitars and a bass that hung in the background, a translucent piano with built-in mixer as the centerpiece, another keyboard and and more production on the opposite side, a looping contraption on the floor, plus two saxophones at the foot of the stage. Concertgoers didn’t know what to expect.

One fan gushed, “He’s really fucking good, he got me into this kind of music.”

The set started off with a minute of hypnotizing synth. As he walked up on stage, the 28-year-old immediately spoke into the mic, “Chi chi ah ah,” looped the sound and jumped over to grab his hanging bass. Things got funky as he laid the bassline down, and the crowd started to roar. He looped the bass quickly and hopped over to the saxophone.

“This is fun, the most intimate show on this tour”, FKJ told the audience.

The artist’s experimental improvisation was the driving force of the show. FKJ’s work is mostly focused on instrumentals and production. Therefore, not a lot of songs are singalongs. So when tunes like “Skyline,” “Tadow,” “Lying Together” and “Vibin’ Out with (((O)))” played, the crowd was more than elated to jump along the karaoke train in hopes of feeling like they were part of this huge jam sesh.

While the mesmerizing multi-instrumentalist is known for performing as a one man band that loops, mixes and cuts each raw piece of recording live on stage, he allows his audience to experience the process of his art.

The Tampa crowd got a little rowdy, and produced a lot of chatter in the background, but FKJ put on a very chill set. Most of the show was an experience of his process — a long build-up before hearing the final product of his work. You have to have patience for that process. The Tampa crowd lacked patience at times, but was overall respectful.

The strength of his music-making method has earned FKJ a strong, and growing following, and if you came to see FKJ live, you really came to experience and appreciate the process of his art, and in return hopefully left inspired.

See photos of the show here. Follow @CL_music on Twitter to get the most up-to-date music news. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.

This article appears in May 2-9, 2019.