Purity Ring, HANA Show Review

Purity Ring, HANA 

McDonald Theatre

Eugene Oregon 
October 4th, 2015

HANA came onto the stage to a crowd unfamiliar. Mostly, the crowd consisted of the people under 21 while those over 21 were watching from the McDonald lounge or were still at another watering hole downtown. Her set design was simple consisting of nothing more than some sound activated L.E.D. lights behind parasols and what looked like beaded curtains strung about in the background. The electronic beats came as a refreshing breath to the room and by her first vocal line the crowd was in.  

     HANA walked from one point on stage to the other carrying a persona, like an anime character I wish I had known of before. While demeanor was confident, her vocal didn't always cut through the mix as much as I would have liked, watching a trained vocalist that held the attention of the room reminded me that this EDM movement gives a new place for female artists to shine. Her talent for creating beats that trickle in like a rainforest afternoon shower and her primal vocals, at points hypnotic, will give DJs that simply stand behind their booth a new challenge. And oh, did I mention she totally killed it with a cover of "Here Comes The Rain Again" by Eurythmics!

     The crowd began to shift as more people showed up in the set break. Girls in Japanese-styled school girl outfits, guys wearing animal masks, light up fingers, and girls wearing what I euphemistically describe as "Cochella wear" filed in when it hit me. The Canadian duo of Purity Ring have struck a chord with the American audience by mashing up the surreal and the cool.   

     Megan James, an artist in her own right, had created a futuristic sci-fi vibe with the hair and outfit of a Japanese pop star.  As soon as the music began I felt a music box on steroids with vocals from reverb air had opened in the room.The spherical sounds panned from the stage to my ears and back. It was like being in a snow globe with the arctic lights triggered by Corin Roddick while Megan's vocal lines dripped down to us like icicles. Their dynamics were a favorite for me, moving like a tide luring you in.  

      A strong crowd-pleasing point of the show was when Megan walked up spiral stairs behind Corin to have her silhouette in front of a full moon. Her voice was a wolf's call to dance. And dance we did. The light show alone was worth the ticket price, Purity Ring's art is priceless.

  If anything, the show was a bit short, but don't they always say leave the crowd wanting more? 

Purity Ring has a few more shows in the US and Canada before heading over to Europe:

October 15 San Francisco, California 

October 22 Toronto, Canada

October 24 Halifax, Canada

October 27 Sheffield, UK

October 28 Cambridge, UK

October 29 London, UK

October 30 Utrecht, Netherlands

November 1 Antwerp, Belgium

November 2 Luxembourg, Luxembourg

November 3 Paris, France

November 4 Koln, Germany

November 5 Prage, Czech Republic

November 6 Warsaw, Poland

November 8, Stockholm, Sweden

November 9 Oslo, Norway

Beach House, Dustin Wong McDonald Theatre, Eugene, Oregon September 29, 2012

I admit it has been a long time since the McDonald and I have spent an evening together. But if anyone was going to reunite us, it would likely be the indie darlings Beach House. And while Beach House was headlining and I admittedly had a girl-boner over seeing them, it was Dustin Wong that I expected to steal the hearts of the youth painted in eyeliner and flip flops.

Dustin Wong might be someone you've never heard of, and when he walked on stage wearing a gigantic cardigan only a bingo-going grandma could love the crowd responded tepidly. But tucked between two frat gentleman in the front row (really?), I knew better. He gave us a sheepish wave, popped his Converse off, and sat on a folding chair. The first staccato sounds from his guitar were simple and deceiving; until he looped them and began to build. Armed with pedals and a vision most of us lack, Dustin continued compounding sounds to create songs of surprising depth and warmth. Tweaking a guitar here and there is no big feat-any bedroom rocker can get a pedal on eBay-but to have multiple going at once and piling on the sounds to make something better than a wall of noise is tricky.

The crowd fell quiet, trying to figure out what exactly was going on, and on the way, fell in love. Occasionally, Dustin would stand up and sing into the mic for an extra layer, reminding us of the single human responsible for the complex and lovely songs. Near the end, the crowd began to clap along, and Dustin looked up a few times as if in disbelief. “You really like it,” he seemed to be asking. “Oh hells yes,” the audience replied, keeping the beat through the song. After his set, as he was packing up to leave, a girl yelled “you were SO good!” and he blushed. Both gentleman next to me asked who had just played and upon being given the name, went about looking Dustin up on their phones. One must give credit to Beach House for supporting such an inspiring and gentle force.

When the lights dimmed for Beach House (an extended 45 minutes later), some of the stars had fallen out of the crowds' eyes. But what had been lost in momentum was gained in pleasure of seeing Victoria Legrand slink onto the stage and take her place behind the organ. Alex Scally and touring drummer Daniel Franz were steps behind her, and they took a moment before launching into “Wild,” off their recent release, Bloom.

There must be some special deal singers have with the universe; they can get the box set of a big voice, big hair, and big shoulder pads. This isn't the first time a paper-thin singer has been anchored by shoulderpads—nor will it be the last. Probably not the most chatty musical group, the anxious crowd made due with the bare minimum of contact from the band. Which, while a taciturn band helped the dreamy atmosphere, seemed to keep Beach House from really connecting with the crowd.