As I sat at a table inside the laid-back concert venue The Loft, the three girls sitting at the table next to me stood up and commented, “Well, I guess we’ll go play our set now,” and that’s how the night began.
Wednesday’s line-up included Sleep Over, Twin Sister and Memoryhouse – all finds of the Dallas “Gorilla vs. Bear” blog and independent record label and all rising stars on the Indie scene.
The Austin-based Sleep Over opened the show with a series of songs and moving images on the screen that added to the almost psychedelic feel of the set, vaguely reminiscent of Ratatat. While their lyrics seemed to get a little lost amongst the echo effects, the keyboardist’s voice stood out amongst the noise.
Twin Sister, the second act, was my favorite set of the night. The lead singer had a very sultry voice that seemed to be a mix of Anya Marina and Zooey Deschanel, and the casual setting fit perfectly with their easy-going sound. Twin Sister was much more upbeat than Sleep Over, but still maintained that same chill vibe.
Memoryhouse, a Canadian band that has become pretty popular since their EP’s release earlier this year, all night there were murmurs that Memoryhouse is absolutely phenomenal, but sadly their show failed to prove this.
They opened with their most well known song, “Lately,” and the female vocalist’s voice blew the audience away. The song was written beautifully, with touching lyrics and a mellow sound. Unfortunately, they did not even get through the second chorus before their guitarist stopped the music and launched his first complaint of the night about the technical issues they were having on stage.
This was not an isolated event. While the band kept telling us that they were real musicians and could play their music acoustically, but they ended up only completing a handful of songs, marring the rest with a series of complaints and excuses. Memoryhouse ended their set early, partially because after only four songs the crowd had dwindled down to a handful of people.
I think the band’s keyboardist described their show best when he commented, “This is like a bad karaoke night.”
