Los Angeles – There are bands meant to record in the studio and there are those who thrive in front of a live audience. White Arrows has catchy jams with introspective lyrics and sexy electronics that tease the senses with visions of kaleidoscopic swirls, but when they step foot on a stage they are animalistic and devour every moment with a vicious hunger.
The five-piece finished their North American tour in preparation for their second LP, In Bardo, with an astral performance at historic Los Angeles staple, The Troubadour. They hit all the pleasure points with passionate squints, climbs on precious equipment, and a psychedelic backdrop. Lead singer Mickey Church’s tropical button-down blended into the spiraling projection of skulls, flames, and eyes as a window to the most serene of beach scenes. This visual juxtaposition on screen was an acute illustration of what erupted in the cozy wood-paneled space.
White Arrows outstanding creativity began with Mickey Church during his college days. The Shamanistic ritual major fooled around in between NYU classes and uploaded his first track, “Get Gone,” to the Internet. The trippy tune surprisingly garnered mass attention, trickling on to a number of major music blogs. Church moved back to Los Angeles after graduation to enlist his little brother Henry, Steve Verne, Andrew Naeve, and John Paul Caballero to the band, and the quintet has only gotten bigger and more refined since then.
Thursday night’s production began with a journey into a much darker psych-pop paradise from their new EP, with one their newest songs, “We Can’t Ever Die.” The track is electro-tinged, plummeting into a yearning to avoid becoming obsolete. While equally hooky and funk-laden, the new sounds tear up where White Arrows once relied on the sole drive to get people to move. There is an emotion behind the synths and Mickey’s voice that never materialized on their debut LP, Dry Land Is Not A Myth.
The solid and throaty beginnings of the evening were just heavy enough to let concert-goers sway, but it wasn’t until “Get Gone” began that the crowd was gone too; to a place uninhibited. The bass line came with an uproarious cheer from those enraptured in the psychedelic practices of White Arrows. The lead Church stuck out his tongue and wagged it, licking up the salty sweet taste of crowd’s energy.
Cleverly enough to ease fans into a new sound, White Arrows weaved more bare bones, James Blake-esque new songs like “Scream” with notoriously loose songs “about being a whore.” The elder Church was fantastic entertainment, full of animated movement and thrusts; however, all the members of the band presented irreplaceable talent — especially John Paul. John Paul was a secret weapon who snugly fit in the background until he was unleashed for the last song, “Coming Or Going.” Mickey demanded everyone “lose their shit” for the finale, before John Paul took over lead vocals with a quaking vitality— and that was on top of his standout guitar solos throughout the rest of the set.
White Arrows are known for their sensory live experience and their show was a shining spectacle stimulating enough to drool over. Strip away and dissect all facets of the young project and each moment, each note, takes a creative turn that is experimental ecstasy.
White Arrows second album, In Bardo, will be released September 16. Stream a sneak peek of the compilation HERE.
Ariela Kozin
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