I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: January 25, 2025] L’Rain

I saw L’Rain open for Animal Collective without knowing anything about them.  I was blown away.. I really liked the

extended jams that were full of everything–wild, weird guitars, drums that went from simple and gentle to thrash-worthy, and a saxophone that didn’t sound anything like a saxophone.   And Cheek’s voice.  Which she sampled in various ways, pitch shifting it, looping it on top of itself and creating an astonishing array of sounds.

But this show was a littkle different.

She started out with her first song (that comes from a soundtrack) and it was pretty quiet.  Cheek manipulated her voice and much, but it was mostly atmospheric.

The second song featured her on guitar playing an interesting rotating melody.  But it was also pretty quiet.  The keyboardist played some swirling saxophone solos.  I feel like both songs pushed the 6 minute mark.

The band took up about half of the stage and I was right in front of the drummer (no names were given).  During some of the songs, he went crazy, playing loud and fast while the rest of the band jammed and improvised.  He was my favorite player tonight.

The previous time, I was mesmerized by their guitarist because he was doing all kinds of interesting things [strange chords, or non-chords, making squeaking feedbacking sounds] but I didn’t really feel like he did that tonight.

Knead Bee and Uncertainty Principle showed that L’Rain largely plays an R&B base to her songs.  The songs were pretty chill and I was really missing the excitement of the previous show, although, again, I really like the way she manipulates sounds live.

And then she played a melody that was really familiar.  And once I realized that it was Portishead’s The Rip, I was ecstatic.  I’ve never seen Portishead live and although Beth Gibbons is coming to Philly, her solo stuff doesn’t interest me all that much.  But this version of The Rip was fantastic!  The guitar was perfect, the electronics kicked in exactly the right way and Cheek sang in the best Beth Gibbons style.  Hoy cow it was awesome.

So I was still in a good mood for the final song Two Face, a song she played last time that featured a little more of the chaos that I appreciated last time.

I actually had to wonder if L’Rain was crazier last time because they were opening for Animal Collective and contained themselves more for a less experimental headliner like Soccer Mommy.

£ L’Rain (2017)
€ Fatigue (2021)
⊗ I Killed Your Dog (2023)
Π I Saw the TV Glow soundtrack (2024)