Photos of Local Natives at Fox Theater in Oakland, CA on September 17th, 2016
Photos of Local Natives at 2014 Fashion Meets Music Festival in Columbus, OH
Photos of Local Natives at 2014 Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, GA
Photos of Local Natives at 2013 Boston Calling Music Festival in Boston, MA
Photos of Local Natives at 2013 Beacons Festival in Skipton, U.K.
Photos of Local Natives at 2013 Haldern Pop Music Festival in Rees-Haldern, Germany
Photos of Local Natives at 2013 Governors Ball in New York, NY
Photos of Local Natives at 2013 Optimus Primavera Sound Festival in Oporto, Portugal
Photos of Local Natives at 2012 All Tomorrow’s Parties in Minehead, U.K.
Photos of Local Natives at Austin Music Hall in Austin, TX on December 4th, 2011
Photos of Local Natives at 2011 Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, WA
In 2009, Silver Lake’s Local Natives blew people away with Gorilla Manor, a powerful record that managed to mix indie-loss with today’s popular alt-folk collective sound. Thankfully, follow-up Hummingbird more than lives up to its predecessor.
From the first strains of opener “You & I”, Local Natives lay on the loss that pervades Hummingbird. A lot of acts do loss, but Local Natives do it powerfully throughout their new album. There are distant and enchanting pieces like “You & I”, the more natural “Ceilings”, and choral & stripped “Three Months”. But there are also numbers that build into something bigger, such as expansive “Black Spot”, empty hall-filling “Wooly Mammoth”, and stripped-to-big closer “Bowery”. Then there are ones where they mix from quiet and loud, in “Breakers” or the darker “Mt. Washington”.
In look and in live performances (QRO live review), Local Natives come off as more of an alt-folk collective, ironic mustaches and switching up instruments. But their recorded sound is much more than just that, as it delivers indie-tragedy with the best of them as well.
