Local Natives at Kool Haus – September 21, 2013

Photographs by Sarah Rix

It’s a nomadic life for Local Natives as of late. A string of tour dates across North America and Europe line their calendar and the band’s spent the better part of a year touring in support of their sophomore record – 2013’s Hummingbird. Their visit to Toronto’s Kool Haus marked their second stop to the city this year. Their first, a sold out show at The Phoenix, happened in late March.

You can tell the band’s been on the road for a while. Vocalist, keyboardist, and percussionist Kelcey Ayer’s clearly having some trouble – or at least forgetting where he’s been. While Ayer was incorrect in saying September’s stop in Toronto was the band’s first in the city for Hummingbird, we can forgive him. The Los Angeles group has been busy. And in this case, it’s paid off.

If there’s one thing you need to know about Local Natives, it’s that they excel in their vocal harmonies. It’s incredible hearing them coordinate on choruses. Take, for instance, fourth song “Warning Sign”, a Talking Heads cover on their 2009 debut, Gorilla Manor. It’s a type of song that doesn’t warrant perfection in its chorus – the multiple off-key vocals creating a sense of chaos that halts only with the introduction of the band’s instruments. It’s the type of dissonance and disorder that can easily become a struggle. Too much of it one way and it sounds terrible. Too much of it the other way and, well, what’s the point? But, as Saturday night’s show proved, the five members in Local Natives are very much in tune with each other.

It helps that they’re also entertainers, albeit humble ones. The band seemed blown away by the number of people in attendance: an all-ages crowd that was busy, but not quite sold out.

Mustached guitarist and vocalist Taylor Rice has a great voice, and he knows how to throw around his energy. Rice and second guitarist Ryan Hahn also know how to place their guitar riffs, proving that while the harmonies are the big highlight – the instrumentals don’t fall far behind. There is a good interplay between these two key elements and it makes for an energetic live show.

“We actually got a chance to walk around Toronto a bit,” Rice said part way through the set, recounting a story of a fan giving him a cupcake and joking: “My tour manager told me not to eat it in case it was laced with drugs.”

Gorilla Manor songs proved to be the highlights of the set with “Shape Shifter”, “Camera Talk”, and “Airplanes” finding huge crowd favour. Ayer took lead on the latter, his voice complimentary but different enough from Rice’s to warrant the change. The crowd sang along loudly to the number, one guy in the audience even offering up some elaborate air drums.

Their two closing songs faltered slightly in comparison to the rest of the show. Hummingbird closer “Bowery” was stripped down but altogether jarring thanks to the use of syncopated drums. “Who Knows, Who Cares” got the acoustic treatment, drummer Matt Frazier stepping away from his kit to a single percussive instrument. The slower numbers didn’t sound bad – but in a set full of intricate give and take, it seemed comparatively lackluster. Despite the closing kinks however, it shows they’re a band willing to take risks and try new things. A lot of the time it works, but they’re clearly not infallible. With this much touring still to do though, there’s no doubt Local Natives will get there.