Gracing the Leeds Stylus with their presence, Local Natives performed an engaging set, grasping the ears of fans old and new. Following the release of their third album, the Californian five-piece have had a lot of attention in recent months. Sunlit Youth, released in September, has been long-awaited and did not disappoint. The album promotes a new sound for Local Natives; with some songs keeping traits from their earlier work and others flirting with a new afro-pop sound with their heavy use of synths.
Multi-instrumentalist Drellar (AKA Thomas Rawle) opened the show with a small set up and an amazing sound. With snazzy guitar riffs, warped vocals and a psych-pop sound with more energy than you could ever imagine, he warmed up the crowd and owned their attention. His second song One Night Stand stood out the most, sending dramatic vibrations through the room. With a great sense of humour, he held an intimate relationship with the crowd. Towards the end of his set he slowed things down a bit with his new song A Signal That Comes Back, whilst still maintaining his groovy beats. Based in London, Dreller is credited for not only his audio, but also everything visual; creating animations for his music videos.
Opening with Past Lives from their latest album, Local Natives created a ripple of head-bops moving throughout the crowd, immediately giving everyone a feel for the night ahead. With an effective build up of instrumentals and vocals as the song reached an energetic chorus. Other songs from the latest album such as ‘Villainy’ continued to keep this energy going. With Taylor Rice ditching the guitar and dancing around the stage to sing the first track on the album.
Reeling back to their first album Gorilla Manor mid-set, Airplanes got the biggest cheer yet. With the lighting less dramatic to suit the mellow tones of the song, the calm three-part harmonies, sounds of clattering percussion and minimal use of guitar and bass sent a sense of nostalgia through the room.
Keeping up with this nostalgia; Rice mentioned the next song was only going to be the second time they’d played it on this tour. ‘World News’ made us feel special and got everyone dancing again. The room filled with so much energy and enthusiasm, it felt electrical.
Rice took time out to explain to the crowd that £1 from every ticket would go towards intervention and prevention programs for gender-based violence.
The upbeat energy however, continued with songs such as Masters, Coins and Dark Days from the Sunlit Youth. Leaving even the barmen doing an exaggerated two-step behind the beer pumps. The lighting; fast paced and visually effective contributed to the lively performance. The band often swapped instruments they were playing and sometimes exchanged the role of lead vocals, leaving a sense of group unity with no real lead band member. This admirable detail to their performance meant everyone could show off what they could do in an incredibly effective, unified manner.
Next up, the band said they wanted to play something special, and it sure was. Playing Columbia from second album Hummingbird, things were slowed right down. Leaving just Rice on guitar and Kelcey Ayer on keyboards on the stage. Their vocals came together perfectly amongst the dimly-lit ambience of the room. The rest of the band joining them at the end of the song, adding drums and guitar, making the performance wholly overwhelming.
Next up, a talk from Rice, again left the crowd in admiration. Introducing Fountain of Youth, he talks of the chaotic world that was surrounding them whilst writing and gives reason to be hopeful and optimistic. He emphasises how much the younger generation have the power to change things and push in a desired direction; particularly in relation to the US general election which had been playing on their minds massively. This really gave the crowd something to be passionate and hopeful for and was exaggerated by the lyrics of the song. This was arguably the best song of the set, letting off incredible amounts of passion and emotion that could be felt overwhelmingly throughout the room.
The ‘last’ song Who Knows, Who Cares saw the crowd singing word for word. Though an encore followed. Promising to see us again on tour before the 3 years we’ve had to wait for the Sunlit Youth tour, the bands promise seemed sincere. Sun hands saw every last drop of energy exercised, giving us crazy extended instrumentals and lots of fun on stage before the memorable closing chords. With all hands in the air applauding their very beings, Local Natives really did go to all lengths to impress, leaving the audience mesmerised.
Words by Gemma Hickey, feature image by Patrick Gunning