When UK indie outfit Glass Animals emerged on the Orpheum stage Tuesday night, the audience was in for a transcendent experience courtesy of ambient jams and hypnotic fog.
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But before the headliner could entice their patrons, Spanish garage rock band Hinds took the stage. The all-female quartet brought high energy with their upbeat rhythms and twanging guitars.
There was never a moment when the mood wasn’t that of constant euphoria. Each band member was continually smiling and jumping around to their music; it was thrilling to see a band that so visibly enjoyed and cared about their craft.
While Hinds’ presence was eccentric, their songs started to sound a bit similar and redundant toward the end of their set. Nonetheless, their energy did a great job of setting the mood for Glass Animals.
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Glass Animals’ impending presence was cued with a dense layer of fog filling the room, as a sea of violet lights illuminated the palm trees and torchlights decorated the stage.
When the fog cleared and the lights fell, animal sounds grew in the background, giving the entire venue a distinct Caribbean feel.
As the animal sounds continued to grow, the band walked on stage and fell into a pulsating groove that layered over the sounds of the ambient wildlife.
During their roughly hour-long set, the band moved through their most recent (and first) LP, ZABA. Their live presence reflected the fluidity of the album; warm bass synths and hypnotic riffs created a flowing river of sound for frontman David Bayley to float his sultry vocals on.
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While Glass Animals is a band that relies heavily on electronic production, every sound is performed live. Guitarist Drew MacFarlane and bassist Edmund Irwin-Singer both manned synthesizers and undertook the massive endeavor of producing all of the bands’ electronic sounds on stage.
Heavy electronic elements in tracks like “Black Mambo” and “Flip” felt much more authentic with Glass Animals’ commitment to live playing.
The set was capped with a strong two-song encore, featuring a genre-bending rendition of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” and crowd favorite “Pools.”
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Despite a limited song repertoire, Glass Animals’ multichromatic soundscape successfully made the Orpheum their own concrete jungle.
