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Fans were swinging from the chandeliers as Local Natives proved their undoubtable greatness in the Manchester Academy and it really was an occasion to savour.
Local Natives are a five piece indie band from Silverlake, USA. Matt Frazer, Andy Hamm, Taylor Rice and Kelcey Ayer join together with their powers combined to become one of the best bands to come out of America in recent times, period.
They have been compared with Fleet Foxes, another awesome band it has to be said, but it would be fairer to them to not compare them at all.
The band have their very own unique sound, and ok, nothings truly orginal anymore and I have seen those checked hoodies and beards someplace before, but they really do have something of their own to bring to the table and its immense.
The format of the band isn’t the usual, and their is no apparent front man carrying them on his own like most bands these days.
In fairness all three of the vocalists, Taylor, Kelcey and Ryan, could all quite easily carry off the front man role with relative ease.
But thats not what LN are about. They share the stage and the singing, and their harmonies are simply amazing. Polished, perfect and passionate. Not only are they vocally harmonious the music is too, its pretty clear that this is a band that gels together, their chemistry is contagious and it resonanted around the Academy.
The audience were in awe and rightly so. The gig had the special quality of making you feel like you’re part of something special, at the beginning of something great. They have the rare gift of making each song stand out on its own, each creating firing their own momentum.
Its hard to choose favourites but some of the high-lights from the night were Wide Eyes, Airplanes and the cover of Talking Heads song Warning Sign.
The jam packed audience couldn’t get enough of these tunes and it was the kind of gig you come away from listening to the album on repeat everyday thereafter just to relive the moment.
If that sounds a tad sad, then we are proud to be sad, sad and lovestruck for the beautious music and dashing mustachios.
Their self funded album, Gorilla Manor, was written in and named after the house they all shared together in LA. Ok, we don’t want to think about gorgeous Americans lapping up the sunshine in LA, writing an album in a country manor for shits and giggles.
Especially while we’re running for cover from the torrential downpours, looking at grey skies and scratching around in old coats and down the back of couches just to try and get by, but don’t judge them for it, nor for their uber cool charisma and boy band good looks.
Don’t you dare, because if you do you would be massively missing out on one of the most pioneering, exciting bands out there. And who wants that on their conscience?