Performer has a broad appeal that’s elusive in electronic dance music. He performs in three sold-out shows at the Paramount in Seattle.

Share story

The producer Harley Streten, who performs under the name Flume, has a broad appeal that’s elusive in electronic dance music. That’s clear enough from the fact that he’s playing three sold-out nights at the Paramount starting Thursday, Aug. 4, but it’s also apparent when you listen to his music.

The forceful drums, ample low-end and laid-back tempos appeal to a generation weaned on hip-hop. The melodic elements — mild digital synths, plaintive piano chords, agreeably pretty vocals — are far gentler than one-time genre-defining acts such as Skrillex or Bassnectar.

These comfortable, universally understood sonics attract casual listeners. It’s not hard to imagine fans of radio pop or even indie rock being drawn in; perhaps appropriately, Streten takes his stage name from a Bon Iver song.

Concert preview

Flume

With Mura Masa. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 4-6 (sold out), Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle (360-467-5520 or stgpresents.org).

Streten, 24, began producing music as a teenager while growing up in Sydney, Australia. His gradual ascent to dance music’s mainstream began after he won a production competition in 2011. Despite existing on pop’s fringes, Flume is still big business. According to The New York Times, the producer earned “in the low seven figures” in 2014.

His second album, “Skin,” released in late May, has the ambition and scope that matches the profile he’s built. At 16 tracks and with a long, diverse guest list (Beck, Raekwon, Alunageorge), it’s almost as if he’s making up for lost time since 2012, when his self-titled debut topped album charts in Australia. “Skin” repeated that feat, and it also hit No. 8 in the United States.

Working with vocals is Flume’s specialty — remixes of songs from pop stars like Lorde and Sam Smith are a big part of why his star has grown. The tracks on “Skin” with singers or rappers — especially “Smoke & Retribution,” with rising Los Angeles emcee Vince Staples — are stronger than the instrumental songs, which too often are exercises in seeing how far one idea can be stretched.

Seattle-area electronic duo Odesza, who headlined Capitol Hill Block Party last week, is one of Flume’s closest contemporaries in terms of sound and stature. In a Seattle Weekly story last year, Harrison Mills described his group’s music as sounding like “everything and nothing at once.”

This tabula rasa quality also explains Flume’s broad appeal. As with most EDM artists, Flume’s songs are enveloping and grandiose. But they’re also general and inviting enough to work on a smaller scale, allowing listeners to forge a personal connection to the music — a rare feat in a genre that’s so often faceless.