Elderbrook’s DJ set at Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Waterfront makes a strong case for why his music works so well when the sun goes down and the dance floor starts filling up.
The Grammy-nominated producer and singer brought his mix of deep house, melodic electronics and emotionally charged songwriting to We Belong Here, performing against one of New York’s more striking waterfront backdrops. The complete set is available to watch, capturing a side of Elderbrook that stretches well beyond his own catalogue and into the music shaping his DJ sets.
Elderbrook has always occupied an interesting space in electronic music. His records often carry the intimacy of singer-songwriter material, with his voice and lyrics giving the tracks an emotional centre, while his production is designed for rooms where people want to move. In a DJ set, those two instincts meet more directly, with atmosphere and rhythm doing as much of the storytelling as words.
The Brooklyn performance leans heavily into that balance.
Rather than building the experience around giant screens, We Belong Here emphasizes decorative lighting, distinctive locations and a reduced-capacity dance floor. That approach suits Elderbrook particularly well because his music rewards immersion. His sets can feel expansive without becoming anonymous, constantly shifting between warm melodic passages and deeper club grooves.
The tracklist reflects that range. Music from Sultan + Shepard, Max Styler, Adriatique, WhoMadeWho, RÜFÜS DU SOL and CamelPhat appears alongside Elderbrook’s own material and collaborations, creating a set that moves comfortably through progressive house, melodic house and deeper electronic territory.
Elderbrook’s “Places” with Shimza appears in Marten Lou’s remix, while “Run,” his collaboration with Vintage Culture, also makes the cut. Those selections underline how naturally Elderbrook’s songs can live beside records from producers whose work is aimed squarely at the dance floor.
That versatility has become one of his defining qualities.
He can write a vocal track that works as an introspective headphone listen and still create music capable of opening up inside a large outdoor set. The Brooklyn performance shows how easily he moves between those modes, giving the audience recognizable moments while keeping the flow of the mix intact.
There’s also something particularly fitting about hearing this music at the Greenpoint Waterfront. Elderbrook’s production often carries a sense of space, with soft synths, restrained vocals and gradually evolving rhythms that benefit from an open setting rather than overwhelming it.
The result feels less like a traditional festival spectacle and more like an extended electronic journey.
We Belong Here has built its identity around pairing dance music with unusual settings and a stronger sense of community than the standard large-scale festival model. Elderbrook’s set fits that philosophy almost perfectly, combining thoughtful selections with the kind of melodic warmth that can make a DJ performance feel personal even in a crowd.
For anyone who knows Elderbrook mainly from his studio recordings and vocal collaborations, the Greenpoint set is a useful reminder of just how deep his electronic instincts go.