It was a dark and tropical stormy night…when Portland dream pop mystics Pure Bathing Culture and Brooklyn tropical psych rockers Monogold brought some warm soundscapes to Mercury Lounge. Pure Bathing Culture is the project of Daniel Hindman and Sarah Versprille, who are Vetiver alumni, and interestingly enough, who I do remember seeing all play together at this very venue about two years ago. It couldn’t have been long after that when the duo, originally New Yorkers, moved westward to hone their own craft.
They’ve since made a full length record with Richard Swift called Moon Tides, due out this August, and gathered bassist Zach Tillman and drummer Brian Wright to jump on their live show train and headed east to showcase their new tunes. Friday night, Sarah was front and center with her keyboard stand draped in black, alternating between grabbing the microphone off the stand to sing, and swinging the stand back around to set the mic and dig into the keys with both hands. They played through the songs on the forthcoming record, many of which have this smooth ’90s R&B backbeat feel, with Daniel pretty much just soloing twinkling guitar notes the whole time, and Sarah’s vocals sounding like a cross between Stevie Nicks and Austra’s Katie Stelmanis, with her trills and vibrato style. They played singles “Pendulum,” and “Ivory Coast,” a favorite which was saved for the last song.
Their set seemed to plateau in the middle, with the songs melding into each other and I could feel my mind drifting off and losing focus on what was happening in front of me. Normally, this would not seem like a compliment to a band, but as Pure Bathing Culture has meant to make music to lead to self-reflection and deal with themes of human emotion, it makes sense that listening to it would lead the mind elsewhere. It quite possibly was transporting the band as well. At one point my friend leans over and says she likes watching them, because they all look like they’re totally getting off on their own music. It was true. With mouths agape, eyes slightly rolled back in their heads, the members of Pure Bathing Culture were in their own pleasure zone. And because they were feeling it, we were too.
In a slightly different cathartic experience, Monogold brought the dance beats. Listening to their recorded material, I initially shrugged them off as another band that sounds a lot like Animal Collective, but live they are way more remarkable. Singer/guitarist Keith Kelly looped his guitar to add depth and layers while oscillating between falsetto vocals and bringing it down to a lower register, to add more dynamics to the songs. If it hadn’t been for watching him and bassist Mike Falotico rock out before my eyes, I may have forgotten they were a live band and not some polished production coming from samplers and synths. I also have to give major credit to drummer Jared Apuzzo, who really went at it and drummed like he had more than four limbs. With the light projections added in, they made Mercury Lounge feel like a tropical psych disco dance club haven.
Pure Bathing Culture are continuing their tour in support of Moon Tides, with all dates on their Facebook page. Monogold have a couple more dates listed on their Bandcamp, along with the full stream to their last album, The Softest Glow.
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