Indie Grits festival features Columbia electronic group
Joined by opening acts Valley Maker and Mermaids, the show proved a success after a long night and a tough start to the featured act's set.
The night, which was slated to start at 9 p.m., saw its fair share of complications, including a crackdown by the fire marshal, strictly limiting the venue to 300 people. The event, which cost $15 for a regular ticket, was sold out at opening, turning fans hoping to snag a door ticket away all night.
Valley Maker, the first opening act of the evening, is a product of USC alumnus Austin Crane's senior thesis. The Columbia singer/songwriter wrote a full length album centered around the narratives of the book of Genesis.
The group's folk-laden sound hinges on Crane's emotive and pensive vocals, which poke and prod at the minds of listeners during songs such as "The First" and "Names."
The Mermaids, the night's second act, played rowdy rock with a beach music vibe. The Atlanta-based act has received positive press from the New York Times, which praised their music as, "jangly surf and garage-influenced rock with a sharp sense of melody." Band member Noah Adams, a Columbia native, describes the group's sound as "loud, pyschedelic, doo-wop, punk."
A close-knit crowd — who took venue-front breaks together, swayed their heads in sync and fashioned the same electronic-beat dance moves — couldn't get enough of Toro Y Moi, patiently waiting it out through an early-set technical mishap.
After the quartet's first song, the guys couldn't get the computer and soundboard together, and had to break after a few stalled starts. Bundick, however, didn't shy off stage and send for technical support, but called for the house music and started work himself on the quickly-fixed problems.
The guys wasted no time jumping back into the line-up, allowing the music to speak for itself. There was no fuss, no elaborate stage work, no crowd-engaging claps — the music consumed the room, and as you looked around the audience, there was not one person immune to the Toro chill.
The band seconded the musical feeling. Sweat dripped from the drummer's nose, and the guitarist tapped his navy blue Converses against the stage, emotionally straining his whole self into the backing vocals. Bundick's vocals remained pristine in the upper register throughout the set, and the band continually used breaks in between songs to express their love for their hometown of Columbia.
It was chill. It was trippy. It was down-to-earth. The up-and-coming chillwave phenomenon rushed into the crowd's realm, with the music, talent and sheer originality of the sound standing alone in the act's hometown. show.
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