Before fully returning back to the here and now from our nostalgic look back at the 2000s, let's reflect for a moment on last March's incredible show by St. Vincent at The Tabernacle. After that show, I declared in a Facebook post that "If I'm lucky enough to see another show this good this year, the year will be a very good year indeed!" After last night's Hundred Waters and GEMS show at The Earl, I can say that this is, in fact, a very good year indeed.
Opener was Atlanta's Suno Deko, a one-man experimental rock band employing lots of loops and overdubs, and a good start to an evening of electronic pop.
D.C.'s GEMS are touring with Hundred Waters, and performed an excellent set of dream pop in front of a screen showing videos of roses with subliminal skulls spliced in.
GEMS are the attractive duo of Lindsay Pitts (vocals, keyboards) and Clifford Usher (guitar, vocals).
For just a duo, they produce a lot of sound, and play an ethereal, richly textured brand of dream pop. At times, they sounded a little like Zola Jesus, at others, a little like Purity Ring, and at others like nobody else. You can hear traces of Beach House in their song Pegasus, but the recorded version doesn't do justice to the intensity of the live version of the song.
GEMS' set was great, and they won't be playing the opener much longer. I thought that they had stolen the show for the night, and even though I've seen Hundred Waters twice before, once at 529 and again opening for Alt-J, and am a big fan (a recent post about them has garnered more hits this month than any other post on this blog) and came to last night's show specifically to see them, I didn't think they could do anything that could top GEMS' marvelous set.
They proved me wrong. Hundred Waters played a mind-blowing set of wonderfully psychedelic electronic ambient folk rock with neo-classical and prog rock overtones, with so many shifting sounds and changing textures that you never felt quite sure from moment to moment what you had just heard or what you'd hear next.
They played what was clearly the most full-bodied, most fully-realized version of their music I've heard yet, and last night was by far the best Hundred Waters set I've heard. I'd have to go back to Junip at Terminal West to recall an equally mesmerizing set, or maybe Julianna Barwick at The Goat Farm. At one point, the thought occurred to me that they sounded like what Animal Collective must hear in their heads.
Part of the magic was due to their incredible lighting. Using only two projectors mounted on the stage with them, they created effects ranging from shimmering sheets of light floating across the stage and audience to 2001 Space Odyssey-like twin walls of light, to atmospheric cones or tunnels of light. It was all very simple and not at all distracting, but definitely added to the experience.
Well done, Hundred Waters! I look forward to seeing you again.
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