Before this show, Lord Huron and Night Moves were just names on Neurolux's calendar to me. I'm almost always up for checking out new bands, though, and I was impressed enough by a Lord Huron song that I'd played earlier that day to take a chance.
I counted about fifty people when I got down to Neurolux. I sat at the bar, read a bit from Please Kill Me and waited for the show to start. One of Lord Huron's guitar players passed by at one point and complimented me on my book. I took that as a promising sign.
First up this night was Night Moves. I checked this Minneapolis group's Facebook page after the show and was a little surprised to find just Neil Young, Todd Rundgren and Young Money listed under "Artists We Also Like." I suppose that those names are more indie-correct than, say, the Delfonics. Their glimmering guitars, watery keyboard, steady rhythms and falsetto vocals mixed 00's indie rock and 70's soul. Not many folks danced during their set, but this stuff had more of a 2 a.m. make-out feel anyway. Fascinating.
Lord Huron played next. This Los Angeles group's sound proved even more unlikely than Night Moves', combining folk-country melodies and harmonies with quasi-African rhythms. If their lyrics had been equally idiosyncratic, the blend might have gone down a bit easier. From what I could make out, however, they stuck to standard-issue old-timey themes and language ("I was born on the lake and I don't want to leave it...", "I'll share my life with you, brother..."). This made the whole enterprise feel kinda hollow and maybe even a little condescending. Their outdoorsman shtick--misty mountain backdrop, blue jean and corduroy attire--didn't help on that front. Still, the sweetness of their tunes and the litheness of their grooves were awfully hard to resist. God knows the crowd didn't put up much of a fight: they danced, jumped and shouted throughout most of the set.
You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.
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