Child Actor, Suā, Grand Resort, Met City, Arc Waves
Wednesday // Doors at 8:00
$8.00Child Actor
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Child Actor is a fast-rising duo that has already produced a wealth of its hypnotic blend of dreamily powerful electronics, R&B; and indie rock in a remarkably short period of time. Emerging last year fully formed, they rode a wave of goodwill after digitally releasing a pair of well-received EPs (Partner & Window) for free. Later in 2012 they released their acclaimed debut LP, Victory, and performed their first series of live shows. 2013 has been shaping up to be just as busy, as Max Heath and Natalie Plaza launch their first national tours and put the finishing touches on their followup to Victory.
Heath's omnivorous, forward-thinking production and Plaza's innocent, intimate vocals comprise the elements of Child Actor's singular sound. They set themselves apart from their electronic peers with an unusual depth of songwriting and an uncannily potent sense for human emotion, manifesting an affecting combination of euphoria, nostalgia, melancholy and haunting transcendence.
Suā
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"This group of New York natives play a prog-rock take on shoegaze, melding complex time-signature shifts with waves of reverb and distortion. While they're definitely devotees of shoegaze legends like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, suā's songs rise above their influences to become something more relevant in the music landscape. Catch them before they take off."
Grand Resort
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What happens when a teenager escapes the confines of his home country, trading breezy, eternal summers for painstaking winters? Three years ago, Andrés Pichardo was wondering the same thing, when he decided to leave his hometown in the Dominican Republic to study in Massachusetts, but mostly to play music.
It may seem unlikely to pin a teenager growing up in the Dominican Republic as a fanatic of Britain's jangle pop, C86 and shoegaze. But during Pichardo's musical coming-of-age, these sounds somehow found their path all the way to the Caribbean and right into his ear canal.
Three years later, the 20-year-old is bursting with similarly inspired guitar melodies and synth layers under the moniker Grand Resort.
Last autumn, Pichardo locked himself up in his apartment in Massachusetts to record the magical Vanguard Dreams, before being mastered by Josh Bonati (The Men, Widowspeak, Zola Jesus) in Brooklyn. The result is an eight song LP recollecting every feeling and emotion he had been hiding for years. This isn't just another kid in his bedroom with his laptop and a guitar. Instead, Pichardo crafts massive recordings within the confines of his bedroom.
"I wanted to develop my ideas as clear as possible, as they did not sound small or vague at all in my head," Pichardo says. "Most people don't believe me when I tell them this is just me in my room with my twelve-string electric guitar."
Earlier this year, Pichardo released Microscopic, a glistening guitar-driven tune with gliding synths and whispery melodies all over the place. Grand Resort officially made the leap to Brooklyn in February, with Pichardo spending his free time interning at a local record label and perfecting his sound. Grand Resort now performs as a four-piece, with Paul Laughrige on guitar, Rich San Luis (Telenovelas, Ghostless) on bass and Rony Bonilla on drums, perfectly envisioning the sound Andrés Pichardo has been crafting within himself for years.
Grand Resort has recently followed up with the solid, soothing avant pop composition "Night Is Dark". Vanguard Dreams will see the light of day this summer.
Met City
Stockholm Fancy, the floridly arranged new album from Met City, is a whimsical, introspective journey baring the garbs of European cityscapes and the revelatory lyrical nuances of a bygone troubadour.
Wearing contemporary influences such as Regina Spektor and Vampire Weekend, while paying homage to music of a baroque yesteryear, Met City achieves a sound both orchestral and lyrically driven.
Mat Alano-Martin's blog, Postcard Elba, noted that Met City "manages to take the baroque sensibilities of Rufus Wainwright and Andrew Bird and infuse them with a driving pulse, an idealistic urgency and a playful fun that manages to sidestep the overwrought and maudlin shades that often come with the genre."
Frontman and songwriter, Loren Berí, brings a modern sensibility to themes manic, romantic, culturally Jewish and otherwise.
Berí and Met City currently reside in Brooklyn, New York, having recently relocated from Portland, Oregon.
Met City has shared stages with various acts including Brett Dennen, Ty Segall, Beach Fossils, The War On Drugs, Murder By Death, Pete Francis and more.