Live Review: The Naked And Famous, Vancouver Sleep Clinic

Vancouver Sleep Clinic lead the night off in impressive style, doubly so when you take into account that the members have barely turned 18. They're working in the same aural space as Bon Iver or James Vincent McMorrow, and quite frankly are able to hold their own against those celebrated internationals. The songs are relatively minimalist, but on the best of them there's an emphasis on a slow and powerful crescendo, and even a cover of Drake's Hold On, We're Going Home has been neatly converted into their style, slotting almost imperceptibly between their own tracks. Tim Bettinson's reverb-laden falsetto soars above a lush, orchestral score and the polish of the sound is equal to many headliners that have graced the stage at The Hi-Fi.  Fortunately there's a large early crowd in, as the band deserves to have made a lot of new fans tonight.

Touring on the back of their second album In Rolling Waves, The Naked and Famous kick things off with that album's opener, A Stillness, and it's immediately apparent just how tight the band are, on the back of some major recent tours. Acoustic guitar is blended seamlessly with the rumbling keyboards, and the triggered and live drums sit comfortably together. Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith make for a magnetic pair front-of-stage, Xayalith gesturing expressively while Powers plays guitar and flicks hair from his face. The whole band appears genuinely pleased to be performing, and through the early tracks they look even more engaged than the excited crowd.

Four songs in, Xayalith invites the crowd to join in, running through a quick practice version of the chorus of Rolling Waves (to surprisingly decent results) before launching into the song. It's a heavily up-tempo performance overall, but several Powers-voiced tracks, particularly Grow Old and Girls Like You, slow things down a notch and make for well-considered breathers in the set. Indeed, the closest thing to a criticism that could be levelled is that the performance is slightly too perfect, the songs a little too close to the albums, but then a heavier version of I Kill Giants blows the album version away and ends that complaint.

Towards the end of the show, Xayalith apologises for missing some lines and admits she's fighting off a (previously unnoticeable) cold. Certainly if this is her performance while ill, her full voice must be formidable indeed. And when major single Young Blood finally appears, closing out the night, the crowd is only too happy to lend a helping hand, shouting the lyrics back into the faces of the broadly-grinning band.