[Our fearless team, Nicci Boots and Ian McNeil spent three days listening to an obscene amount of fantastic music above the stunning Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington. Check out all our coverage here, over 30 sets from a who's who list of indie music.]
When I first heard and saw Local Natives last winter, there was something about them I didn’t like. It felt like they were trying too hard to be something great, and their overwhelming indie-ness was a tad suffocating. I was hesitant to try them out again, but am now so very glad that I did.
As they’ve toured the country and have established themselves in the ears of a vast number of new fans, they’ve begun to create a more concrete and infectious sound. Their up-tempo beats grow on you fast, and their strong and varied music gives them more than enough clout to be a big-venue or festival band. That's likely another reason why I didn’t like them as much the first time; cramming this gigantic music into the Doug Fir took away a lot from the band.
And the "whoa whoas" found in a few of their songs are catchy as hell. I woke up the morning after the Local Natives show to the sound of the band’s album being played out of our camp neighbor’s car, and, well, it was a pretty magnificent way to rise out of a tent.