Courtesy Lang Kanai.
By DCist Contributor Lang Kanai
It was supposed to be their last show. In May, local psychedelic indie-pop outfit Young Rapids played to a packed house at the Rock & Roll Hotel. The band said they were taking a break, and it wasn’t clear if they’d ever be back again. Yet here we are, five months later, and the quartet has found its second wind, gearing up to play their first show since the May, bringing a renewed sense of energy and purpose to 16th Street Heights DIY house The Communiverse. The band plays a packed Saturday night bill with Baltimore’s Raindeer and three Brooklyn bands, Baked, Bueno, and Friend Roulette.
Prior to their show, DCist caught up with the band at their practice space in Baltimore. For a practice space, it doesn’t look like much; a nondescript red brick building surrounded by a gated barbed wire fence. It feels more like a prison than a place to play music. “It was a big mistake,” vocalist/keyboardist Dan Gleason says sitting outside of the building, post-practice. “You’ve got to push through the hard times. No matter what, the show must go on”
Leaning against the hot brick the band talks of life getting the best of them, of weddings, and of questioning their identity as a band. But these sober reflections melt into excitement when conversation turns to the show on Saturday night.
The Communiverse is an active house venue D.C.’s DIY music community, but it’s far from the city’s biggest or brightest stage. When asked about the choice to make their return at a house show, guitarist/drummer Joey Bentley says that it was a no-brainer: house shows are always more enjoyable. “We just have more fun when we play house shows. The intimacy is irreplaceable.” The band agrees. “Honestly, we didn’t even consider those [bigger commercial] venues,” Bentley says. “You look around and it’s the DIY folks that are putting together the best line-ups, anyway.”
Whether playing at the 9:30 Club or in a D.C. basement, their live presence was missed during their short sabbatical. The tracks on Daylight Savings—their first full-length album—shimmers between light and dark, playful and lost. The album itself fluctuates between the brilliance of fall and monochrome of winter, though full of unexpected shifts in tempo and melody. Each song offers an accessible invitation to a sometimes calm, sometimes frenetic river of sound.
Within barbed-wire gates of their Baltimore practice space, the band has evolved from the stark contrast of dark and light that helped define Daylight Savings. Bentley describes their creative approach as a “whittling away” of extremes. The songs still buzz with the familiar Young Rapids incandescence, but a more consistent tone reflects a maturation in the band’s work.
Fans of expansive, energetic indie rock will be thrilled at the return of Young Rapids tomorrow night. It won’t be their last show (again), but with one false-stop already, who knows what the future holds for them.
Young Rapids play with Raindeer, Bueno, Friend Roulette, Baked, and a DJ set by Homero of Go Cozy tomorrow night at the Communiverse. Doors at 5 p.m. $5-$10. Info here.
