Live Review: TIRED LION, THE MORNING NIGHT

Whoever was lucky enough to catch the Saturday night antics at the Claremont Hotel were rewarded by the entertaining sounds of local rock bands The Morning Night and Tired Lion. Listeners were also treated to DJ John's funky remixes between the bands' sets, which added a pleasurable decompression between the rock-oriented performances. The turnout for The Morning Night's performance would best be described as disheartening, for the only patrons present were the bar staff and Tired Lion, who were sitting to the side of the stage nodding to band's songs attentively. But the lack of a cheering crowd did not impede on the band's overall stage presence, much of material the band played that night coming from two of their released albums, 2013's Amberola and 2012's Otis. Much like the albums, the band's emphasis on light guitar tones and slight reverb created a unique combination where fleeting easy listening music met the jerky rhythms of rock'n'roll. The track, Crowd Around Her, was led by the soothing, Elysian vocals of keyboardist Isaura Campbell, while fruity jazz chords gave way to an atmosphere of positive ambiguity. Gotta Get Away also stood out, with its reverbed pitch bends in the intro creating a nostalgia that fondly recalled the '60s psychedelic.

After a brief intermission that involved some more remixes from DJ John, a small, anticipating crowd began to gather around the main stage to watch Tired Lion's set. Led by the innocuous yet grungy pop-driven vocals of Sophie Hopes, the band carefully transitioned the '60s psych that The Morning Night played into a sound that drove the listener to believe they were reading nihilistic poetry in a Seattle alt-rock bar in the early '90s. Hopes' voice was so infectious it seemed to possess one intoxicated patron to demand multiple encores by singing a drunken rendition of Daft Punk's One More Time. Sadly, the band had to stick to their track list, which consisted of singles from their recently released EP, All We Didn't Know, and previously released singles such as Bright Eyes. Desperate created a raw, stripped-back experience through the inclusion of lilting high-pitched guitar arpeggios, contrasting against the verse with a chorus that contained angst-filled, reverbed vocals and lengthy clusters of distortion from the rhythm guitarist. Tired Lion's performance was then farewelled with a brief thanks to the small crowd that, despite the low turnout, was still impressed by both of the bands.