Live Review: Beach House w/Washed Out, The EARL in Atlanta, 4/29/10
Baltimore duo Beach House brought their dream pop/indie rock grooviness to Atlanta recently at a sold out EARL. Riding the wave of success from their third studio album Teen Dream (Sub Pop), Baltimore native Alex Scally and French-born Victoria LeGrand illustrated how to paint with music. The new release topped the college charts earlier this year and has been an indie favorite.
Telling the crowd, “This is our fourth time playing the EARL,” Scally may be wondering why the venues have not increased in size since the inception of Beach House in 2004. That’s only a matter of time, as college stations and indie fans across the country are pushing them to the top.
Selections of their dreamy and beautiful music included “Used To Be,” “You Came To Me,” “Norway,” “Apple Orchard,” and the golden sounds of “Zebra” (“Any way you run, you run before us / Black and white horse arching among us”).
Opening the show was Georgia’s own Washed Out (a.k.a. Ernest Greene). Greene came to prominence at this year’s SXSW show and continues to gain fans with each performance. After recently earning his master’s degree, he moved back in with his parents in Macon while desperately searching for work. In his spare time, he dabbled on his laptop making music. After a MySpace page garnered some record executive attention, he was offered a deal.
Washed Out is on top of the new Chill Wave movement and has a static-y, synthpop 80s feel. While mostly instrumental, Greene does add soaring, echoing, and often looped vocals. Overall, he has a nice sound. His debut EP, Life of Leisure (Mexican Summer), was just released in March and has been making the rounds. Greene has made mention of his friendship with Chaz (Toro Y Moi). Both artists are redefining music for the 21st century (in a good way).
Fans heard pretty much all of Washed Out’s EP, which is all of six songs. Don’t fret, though. More is on the way.
