Local Natives: “Shape Shifter”
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Orange County-based Local Natives made a name for themselves at the 2009 SXSW Music Conference, playing nine shows in four days. Riding the wave of that success, the band released its debut, buzz-garnering release Gorilla Manor in early 2010 (the record debuted in the Billboard 200 and at #3 in the New Artist Chart). The band’s sound is often compared to bands like Grizzly Bear and Arcade Fire (the band is touring in support of the latter on a number of U.S. dates this spring). Last month, the band announced that bassist Andy Hamm had left the band, rendering them a quartet.
The band has been on tour for the better part of two years (they’ve taken a total of about a month off over that two-year span), and there hasn’t been any talk of a follow-up album.
This version of Gorilla Manor standout track, “Shape Shifter,” captured in a live performance at KUT, showcases the band’s soaring, sky-scraping harmonies, dreamy orchestral melodies, and throbbing tribal beats. Theirs are songs you can dance to almost as well as you can swoon to them. Local Natives have communally crafted a brand of indie rock all their own.
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