Holiday Shores

On Saturday night, 29th September 2009, Chocolate Bobka hosted a beach themed night at the newly opened Cameo Gallery with Family Portrait, Sore Eros, Holiday Shores, and Beach Fossils providing the jumping soundtrack. The show kicked off with Family Portrait, a band that Pitchfork describe as making ‘grizzled, shambling pop tunes’. An extremely fitting description, as they charmed my feet into action from the first catchy riff. The accomplished sound and punchy rhythm of Family Portrait, elicited a raucous response from the audience.

Following Family Portrait were the considerably heavier Sore Eros, taking the mood from light and jostling, to entrancing waves of psych rock washed in reverb and heavy FX. The sound they produce is truly mesmerizing. Unfortunately I didn’t know the band beforehand so could not point out the names of the songs that you must listen to. However, I did manage to pull out my recorder for one of my favorite moments in their set, so take a quick listen to get a feel for their sound (or just head to their MySpace).

Holiday Shores followed Sore Eros, kicking the audience back into gear with their driving pop songs and chiming melodies. Take a listen to “Edge of Our Lives” on Pitchfork to hear a quintessential example of their sound. Their performance was a lively run through of their album Columbus’d The Whim, and a conclusion to their US tour. When I asked Holiday Shores about the Tallahassee music scene, they spoke of a well-dveloped music circuit with dedicated audiences. However, they continued to explain that because the scene is so tightly formed, it is often hard for bands to reach a national stage. Luckily, Holiday Shores have escaped the trap. See below for my favorite track of the night and the album, “Phones Don’t Fued”.

Headlining the night were Beach Fossils, a Brooklyn native. They got off to a rocky start, as Dustin Payseur remarked while grasping a broken instrument, ‘anyone got another tambourine’. One rowdy member of the crowd shouted in return, ‘would you like us to make the sounds?’ ‘Ermm yeah’, Payseur replied.

After the initial setbacks, the lo-fi band garnering a strong local following, launched into their set. The best songs in their currently small catalogue are “Vacation” and “Daydream”. Payseur’s garbled vocals in “Vacation” sit perfectly over the feel-good guitar melodies that have you dreaming of riding in a Cadillac on an open freeway. While “Daydream” does exactly what it says on the tin and had me drifting away when I was meant to be doing my job (taking photos that is..).

Then just as we really started to get into it, the band called time, ‘sorry we only have six songs.’ There was no way this audience was going home yet, and began screaming for more. The band attempted to start packing up but the mob would not move, their excited screams bouncing around the walls of the Cameo Gallery. The stalemate pursued until Beach Fossils finally gave into the relentless cries and fired up their instruments, only to play their entire set through again. The crowd reaction was phenomenol, ‘Can you believe it! They played the whole set through twice!!’ Their appreciation for the strong support Brooklyn has provided thus far rang through clearly. Let’s hope they can reach a national stage as Holiday Shores have enjoyed recently.