LIVE REVIEW :: YOUTH LAGOON &amp;amp; MAJICAL CLOUDZ 5.15.13 @ METRO [CHICAGO, IL]
Instead of casually ignoring the house music in between Youth Lagoon and Majical Cloudz&rsquo; sets at Metro on Wednesday (5/15), I found it difficult to deflect my attention away from the baroque opera interlude wafting over the speakers during YL&rsquo;s sound-check. This transition was eclectic and odd, echoing the mood of the show itself.&nbsp;
By the time operatic wails morphed into the hauntingly epic intro to &nbsp;Wondrous Bughouse,&nbsp;&ldquo;Through Mind and Back,&rdquo; and the huge cloth stalagmites behind the band illuminated in Technicolor, the atmosphere felt like an arena concert shoved into a basement practice space on a weird weekday night. A hodge-podge of instruments and decorations was unveiled from the black shrouds that hid them during Majical Cloudz&rsquo; set. Youth Lagoon&rsquo;s live band included a bassist with fiery red braids and an Aztec-patterned blanket draped over his cabinet, a drummer with old school looks resembling Craig Finn and a C&amp;amp;C kit snuggled onto a rug with cubist shapes on it, a greasy guitarist with a cream-colored Strat, and of course Trevor in his wiry-haired, loose sweater, chunky necklace glory. There was no consistency in aesthetic and no direct message other than be yourself.&nbsp;
The performance itself fit comfortably within great expectations:&nbsp;Wondrous Bughouse&rsquo;s playground of sounds was compelling when fleshed out with live instrumentation and massive speakers; familiar synth tones were reproduced spot-on; and the band engaged in some welcome improvisation&mdash;notably, extending the 1-2-3-4 head-banging drop in &ldquo;Sleep Paralysis&rdquo; by only hitting on 1 the first few times through, and providing an outro to &ldquo;Posters&rdquo; that featured what seemed to be the wailing tones of an injured alley cat. They played both singles off the new record, though saving &ldquo;Dropla&rdquo; for the encore, and gave us &ldquo;17,&rdquo; while holding out on &ldquo;Afternoon.&rdquo; The show was quite professional for a young-20s bedroom artist&mdash;you could see that he&rsquo;s really grown into the shoes he inherited with 2010&rsquo;s&nbsp;The Year of Hibernation.
As one would expect from his lyrics and interviews, Trevor was quite meek and lovable throughout. Stopping only really once to chat, he related that, &ldquo;I had a hot dog across the street and I feel like it&rsquo;s got my brain moving really fast&rdquo; and &ldquo;This is one of my favorite venues in the world&hellip;How do the Cubs sound live?&rdquo; Despite humble, silly speech, Trevor certainly got into it, punching an electronic piano with the butt of his hand repeatedly during &ldquo;Raspberry Cane&rdquo; and throwing his mic during the closing encore, &ldquo;Montana,&rdquo; with as much force as he could muster while being conscious not to really break anything. &nbsp;
This was indeed a concert of admittedly awkward artists bearing their souls to strangers. Devon Welsh&mdash;lead singer of Majical Cloudz&mdash;broke down any intimidation wrought by his somewhat skinhead appearance with neat, gracious bows and quick headshakes to ward off clapping. At one point in their set, he scurried over to the gap between the stage and the crowd-controlling barricade, peered down into the dark chasm, flicking his head up and down in what felt like a mix of fear and disbelief and said simply, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never played with one of these things before. It&rsquo;s weird.&rdquo; Welsh and his compatriot Matthew Duffy&mdash;who DJ&rsquo;ed atop what looked like an ironing board&mdash;were nestled into a small pocket of the stage lit by a single yellow floodlight, but commanded the attention of the room; no doubt thanks to Welsh&rsquo;s emphatic and arresting vocals. The simplicity and subtlety of their music is powerful, and their stage presence is endearing. Welsh declined a mic stand, opting instead for sitting cross-legged on stage during &ldquo;Turn Turn Turn&rdquo; and delivering &ldquo;Silver Rings&rsquo;&rdquo; bitter ultimatum, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think about dying alone, silver rings stay with me,&rdquo; from a crouched position, rocking back-and-forth with vicious force. After knocking back another swill of the honey bear that he drained during their set, Welsh announced, &ldquo;sorry, that&rsquo;s the best we can do.&rdquo; Which they followed with their last song and new single, &ldquo;Bugs Don&rsquo;t Buzz,&rdquo; off their upcoming record,&nbsp;Impersonator,&nbsp;releasing May 21st&nbsp;on Matador.
Majical Cloudz has been on tour with Youth Lagoon for the past month. They have yet to announce a tour in support of&nbsp;Impersonator, but are doing a record release show at Glasslands in Brooklyn on the 20th. Youth Lagoon soldiers on into Europe for the month of July.