By Ryan Getz
Pitchfork mainstay Youth Lagoon and up and comer Majical Cloudz descended upon Columbus May 14th to deliver a tightly wrapped package of ethereal, dreamy electronic/alternative music.
The pairing had the unique and memorable circumstance of performing next door to an Insane Clown Posse show at the much larger LC Pavilion, so sporting my camera bag I had to navigate a gauntlet of Juggalos and exploding Faygo 2 liters to collect my media credentials from the box office. The hundreds of Juggalos milling about below the A&R patio (populated by artsy, hipster folk) created an entertaining juxtaposition, to say the least.
Majical Cloudz, the deeply emotional project of Devon Walsh of Montreal opened the show with a brand of minimalist electronic pop. This is no radio friendly electro pop. This is dark music that is soul stirring and heart wrenching. Walsh, in his plain garb (he sported black pants and a tucked in white tee) maintained upbeat stage banter but his performance was in another dimension entirely. His gaze on the onlookers whilst performing was piercing to say the least. Anyone listening to the performance in passing might be less than impressed but given the cheering that took place at the end of the performance, it was clear that an effective connection with the spectators was established.
Youth Lagoon, once a merely simplistic basement indie/electronic project of Trevor Powers has evolved into what’s essentially a more electronic Bon Iver with the release of his sophomore record Wondrous Bughouse. Sadly, we didn’t get to hear much from his masterpiece that is The Year of Hibernation but we did hear “Cannons” and “July,” the latter which was in the encore. This isn’t to say the balance of the show wasn’t on point and fun – it was. Backed by a quartet of spotlighted “sails” Powers held his own, defying the awkward, shy guy persona he became known for initially. He still kept his in between banter to a minimum though. He and his backing band powered through songs like “Attic Doctor,” “Dropla” and “Daisyphobia” fresh off performances at Coachella Festival in southern California. This show was worth our time, and I look forward to the day when we can hear more of a balance of his discography live.
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