Avestra Interview + EP Review

I’ll usually pounce on any chance to grab some tea, regardless of who it’s with. Last week, I got the chance to sit down with Seattle’s own, Avestra, for, well, tea and one iced coffee. For those who aren’t familiar with Avestra, the electronic duo consists of vocalist Savannah Johnston and producer Zach Troupe. The duo reminds me of a combination of electronic/tropical house artist Alina Baraz (especially her EP Urban Flora) and electronic duo Marian Hill. While Johnston, when young, was trained classically in music, and playing all types of instruments, Zach only began experimenting with production and sound more recently. Genuine curiosity has pushed him from downloading music production software just for fun to contributing heavily to Avestra’s sound and vision.

In the past year, Avestra has churned out single after single, most notably songs like “Come My Way,” as well as “Mind’s on You.” When asked whether the pace at which the two have been releasing music at seemed maintainable, the duo replied, “We keep on waiting for the low or creative block to hit, but, surprisingly, we haven’t hit it, and don’t see it being anytime soon.” Full speed ahead, Avestra’s pushing forward into their new EP Niche release. We sat down to talk about their plans for their new music, as well as Avestra’s ambitions moving forward into 2019, with no speed bumps in sight.

It’s easy to assume that the lyrical perspective mostly stems from the vocalist: I mean, they’re the ones singing, right? Being naturally curious about an artist’s perspective (especially in a group), I decided to ask the duo about how they interweave the stories of both members into their music. According to the duo, Niche draws more so from Savannah’s personal experiences, but at the end of the day, feelings of infatuation and relationships across the board, are innately easy to sympathize with.

Niche consists of a crisp four tracks, including “GLOW”, “WHATUWANT”, “HEART”, and, my personal favourite, “WINDOWSEAT.” “GLOW” and “WHATUWANT” are tracks where Avestra’s in cruise control, combining spacey beats with alluring, and at times velvety vocals. Where the EP really starts shining is the track “HEART.” When describing the song that he was most proud of, Zach stated that, “HEART has gone through so many changes, seeing where it started and how it turned out production wise is what makes me so proud of it.” Right off the bat, the guitar sounds luxurious yet enticing, almost harp-like. My only gripe with “HEART” lies within the end of the song, where the group manipulates Savannah’s vocals and pushes more bass into a song that naturally succeeds by being more pared down. “WINDOWSEAT” gives me more of what made HEART so sumptuous. With less bass in production and more natural vocals, “WINDOWSEAT,” with Savannah’s mother on the saxophone, delivers Avestra’s best on the EP.

While Niche establishes a base for their discography and fans, in no way do they want to be put in a box. “The hardest part is waiting to release new work and sounds, we wish we could show [you all] what we’ve been working on”. Catch Avestra this Saturday at ASUW AE’s Band Bash in Maple Hall at 7pm or at their release party next Thursday, 6pm at The Auditorium @ UHeights.

Hippo Campus at the Neptune

Most openers are met with mixed reviews, grumbles, and “When is the ACTUAL show starting”s. Now, Now (Also, from the Minneapolis area), the opener, was an exception Thursday night. The band reminded me of a pop-y-er, safer Paramore. Many of the vocal performances were solid, but the only songs I really gravitated towards was their performances of “Yours” and “MJ” off their new album, Saved.

They received a positive vibe from the attendees consistently through their set. This led to the band’s drummer in a addition to the lead vocalist, Cacie Dalager to constantly thank the audience for the support. At one point, the band repeated the same “Thank you so much for your support Seattle” schpeal after finishing 4 songs, four separate times. The over-thanking from the band was sweet, but took away a lot of momentum of the set itself, leaving an awkward taste in my mouth.

At around 9:15pm, Hippocampus came on. To preface this, I myself, do not listen to much Hippocampus. My friend Hanna on the other hand, is a huge fan. During the show, standing within the sea of die hard fans, the energy and excitement was unavoidable. At one point, someone in the front row started blowing bubbles at the band, dedication. While Hippo Campus’ set was mostly off their new album, Bambi, which I’m a fan of, it seemed as if they played it safe with how they presented it to their audience. Much of the set embodied their classic bubbly, light hearted vibe persona that they’ve been popular for. Their new album resembled somewhat of a change of pace with more grit and synth/electronic usage - their performance of songs on Bambi seemed to come up short of the experimental studio recordings.

That being said, Hippo Campus’ second night in Seattle was a total success. Performances such as “Suicide Saturday” and “South” carried the set along and made it worth the while.

Hippo Campus 2/7/19 Preview

Hippo Campus, an indie band out of St. Paul, Minnesota, is back in Seattle on their Bambi tour – this being their second performance in roughly the last year. Within the past year year or so, Hippo Campus has generated some waves in the indie scene: being named one of NPRs favorite new artists and accumulating over twenty seven million listens on their top hit “Way It Goes.” Hippo Campus is best known for its optimistic melodies and sunny hooks that have captivated an incredibly dedicated, majority female fanbase (my coworkers are in love). 

This time around, the band is promoting and performing their new album Bambi. Their second studio album has signified a fork in the road for the band’s style. In an interview with Billboard magazine, guitarist Nathan Stocker recalled a conversation with their producer where,  “BJ asked us, ‘Do you want to make another Hippo Campus record? Or do you want to make a record under the name Hippo Campus?’” They did just that – departing from their traditional sound and including a more expansive use of synths, and harsher vocal performances as seen on “Bubbles” off of the new album, Bambi. Other songs that I enjoy off the new album include “Mistakes” and “Passenger.”

Hippo Campus will be performing two shows in Seattle next week on February 6th and February 7th at the Neptune right here in the University District.

Lauren Sanderson Show Review 12/1

Sizzy Rocket

To be honest, I did not know what to expect going into this show. I don’t listen to artists I don’t know prior to their concerts, yet I dig the uncertainty and surprise factor. Opening for Lauren Sanderson was Sizzy Rocket , a high-energy pop singer from Las Vegas, Nevada. She can be best described as a mix of less intense of K.Flay, and a sprinkle of Halsey…if that makes sense… Right off the bat, my favorite tracks by Sizzy were definitely “Amphetamine” and her new release, “Juicy Fruit.” One downside that I didn’t enjoy much was the lack of a live band in the Sizzy’s opening set. Every song except for a couple (that were played on her piano) was played via her computer which got slightly monotonous at times.

The crowd was one 100% the most exciting part of the concert. It was around 90% female and absolutely exhilarating. By no means was the Vera Project packed during both performances, but it seemed like everyone there wanted to be there for BOTH Sizzy and Sanderson.

Alaska!

Sanderson’s performance was a engaging mix of rapping and singing. “Electric,” one of my favorite songs off her last album throws in a reggae-like beat in the onset, changes back to guitars, and perfectly accompanies her laid back vocal performance. Other standout tracks for me included “The Only One”, where the chorus reminded me of Sam Smith’s breakout track (“La la la”), and her cover of “Deja Vu” by Post Malone. Her cover of “Deja Vu” pays homage to her roots in YouTube covers, which most fans at the concert having been following her since.

The most admirable aspect of the Sanderson’s set was easily her conversations with the fans. At one point she had a 3 minute conversation with a fan in the front who brought a sign saying “Alaska loves Lauren Sanderson.” At a lot of shows where fans will bring posters and whatnot, they usually go unnoticed or ignored by artists. The fact that Sanderson acknowledged multiple audience members and had intentional conversations with them made a huge difference.

Jorja Smith @ The Showbox 11-19-18

Ravyn Lanae

It’s no surprise that Ravyn Lanae was the opening act for Jorja Smith – an enjoyable type of predictability. Lanae has been gaining a following of late, releasing R&B fan favorites such as “Free Room” (featuring Appleby), “Sticky”, as well as her brand new project, Crush EP.  Lanae’s vibe, according to my friend Amara, could be described as: “Ethereal Clementine Royalty.” Whatever that means. Because Jorja Smith and Lanae have reach over the same music genres and the same fans, a good portion of the crowd could still sing along and get jiggy with Lanae’s performance. Speaking of the audience, it was a pretty predictable group consisting mostly for 20 something year olds dressed in either Urban Outfitters or some other hipster garb.

Jorja Smith’s entrance was quiet, confident, badass, and everything in between: owning the stage from the get go. As she rolled through her songs, Smith focused solely on hitting the notes, setting the vibe, and less on directly interacting with the audience. In no means was this a negative; in fact, it was a huge “W” for Jorja. Her composure throughout the show allowed for small smirks, smiles, and dance moves to get the crowd going. Random note: in between most songs, Jorja would go directly to her cup of hot tea to soothe the throat (Pictured here). How British of her~

The set itself ebbed and flowed, songs transitioning from more bass-pumped, crowd-moving pieces such as her performance of “Where did I go” to pieces that made you want to melt, like “Lost and Found”.

Normally, when artists take a minute or two to breathe in the middle of the set, the aura of the place slowly turns into chatter and mumbles. Not in this case. After her performance of “I am” from the Black Panther soundtrack, she walked off stage and the band picked up right where she left off. They riffed off each other, guitar solo-ed, and got the room pumping.

At the end of the night, Jorja, in her signature way, grabbed the audience and never loosened her grip. That’s what great performers do.

Songs in a Sentence.

Heyo - My name is Alexander. In this post, I’ll be throwing some tunes that I dig your way. Catch is, I’ll review each song with one brief blurb. A sentence. Enjoy.

“Worry No More - Keys N Krates Remix” - Diplo, Keys N Krates featuring Lil Yachty, Santigold

Take notes: This is how you transform a weirdly heartfelt Lil Yachty, Diplo collab into a bop.

“Weekend” - Kane Brown

Grab a beer.

“MOOO!” - Doja Cat

Childhood lullaby instrumentals combined with your edgy mid 20s aunt’s commentary.

“Gmail” - Sheck Wes

Stingy Giorgio Moroder like synths meet the many flows of Sheck Wes.

“Master Groove” - Wizkid

Afrobeats just got married to Flamenco.