I was hoping to catch Beach House, but when I got to the outdoor amphitheater they were nowhere to be seen. Either I had missed them completely, or they never made it. That was disappointing, but there were still a handful of great bands to come.
Local artist Basia Bulat and her merry band of folk music makers took the stage first. At least, she was the first performer I saw. There may have been others before I got there. But anyway, I knew I was in for a treat because there was a celloist and a couple violaists and a flutist (flautist?), and Bulat herself sported a zither.
I found I favored her mid-tempo songs. The slower songs were nice but sleepy, and I wasn't terribly enthralled with the up-tempo ones. But every song in between sounded gorgeous.
Basia Bulat (pronounced BASH-ah boo-LAH, I believe) has a beautiful voice and is a talented guitarist/zitherista. Her songs were usually folky, and sometimes she strayed into Celtic territory. Other times there were tinges of Appalachia in her music. And like a good hodgepodge there was something for everybody to enjoy (granting that everybody likes female Canadian singer-songwriters... and I know that they do). As far as local London talent, she's the best I've seen so far.
Between this set and the next a dance troupe from Montreal took the stage. They did some interpretive dancing, but I was unable to interpret it. It looked like Daryl Hannah's death scene from Blade Runner... if it were half an hour long. I didn't care for it, but I suppose these things are good for the artistic integrity of the community.
Final Fantasy was up next. The only Final Fantasy song I've ever heard prior to that had been a Final Fantasy remix of a Stars song, but the people around me were talking about what a fantastic live show Final Fantasy was.
Final Fantasy is, actually, a one man band consisting of violinist/pianist Owen Pallett. He plays a violin (sometimes a piano) into a sampler, then loops the sample so he can play something else over top of it. The end result is a marvelous piece of dense baroque-pop music that doesn't require guitars or percussion. Aside from being pleasant to listen to, it's also neat to watch.
His last album was called He Poos Clouds, for whatever that bit of information is worth.
Lastly came Grizzly Bear. I was familiar with their type of thick hazey mellow rock 'n' roll, but I couldn't (and still can't) remember how any of their songs go. I just knew that I enjoyed their music, even if I couldn't recall any of it.
When listening to a Grizzly Bear recording you hear instruments not usually associated with a rock band, and the sound gets so distorted and tweaked that it's difficult to identify what it is that's making a particular sound. But when you see them live it all makes sense. A clarinet! A Flute! A zither! Ah, a recorder!
They played a very enthralling set... the feedback and haze and distortion was very absorbing, and they retained the musical hooks to keep it interesting and cohesive.
Also interesting was their choice of a cover song: The Crystals' "He Hit Me (And it Felt Like a Kiss)". Grizzly Bears' style of music doesn't seem to mesh well with that of a girl group, but the song is dark enough and slow enough for Grizzly Bear to warp it into something oddly fantastic.
Due to time restraints they had to cut out their last song (which they apologized profusely for), but I was satisfied with their performance, and indeed the performances of the two bands before. The LOLA festival was a success (at least for that day) and I look forward to next year's line-up.
And for the fair price of FREE there was really nothing to complain about.
