Beach House has been a band for 10 years and have only now played in Saskatoon
Despite being tagged on to the tail-end of a weekend full of festivals such as FM-Phasis and Nuit Blanche, a relatively large crowd was in attendance on Sunday evening for Beach House, a dream pop group signed to Sub Pop Records.
Opener Skye Skjelset, a member of indie-folksters Fleet Foxes, walked on stage and unleashed a short set of oscillating guitar noise that lay just on the cusp of noise feedback. Lots of pretty squalls of drone but nothing to write home – or Tweet – about.
Steve Strohmeier was up next, but wasn’t much of a reprieve from first the first act aside from having more chords, both guitar and vocal, thrown in the mix.
Even so, while there were plenty of people who seemed content to lounge in the back rooms there was still a dedicated cadre standing front and centre stage.
Finally, headliners Beach House made their way onstage. With the mood lighting turned down to sex, the group began their set as a duo, launching into several haunting songs that emitted a hazy sway vibe.
But it wasn’t until the stage show expanded into a full backing band that the energy finally started to percolate. Singer Victoria Legrand suddenly began exuding more raw force as the songs began to build on tense rhythms and explosive synth lines.
It’s taken nearly a decade for Beach House to finally grace Saskatoon with their presence – here’s hoping we won’t have to wait another 10-years for their return.
