I've been hovering around Los Angeles pulling things together and getting my barrings for the last couple weeks. I finally arrived at a point where I could hit the streets and hit the streets I did! It was the last night of Walking Sleep's residency at the the Echo. Walking Sleep, formerly The Flying Tourbillion Orchestra,  had landed a residency at the Echo and I really wanted to catch up with them. Especially now, with their new CD, Measures, due for release on May 25th. Walking Sleep came out of the same artistic breeding grounds of Toxic Airborne Event, Henry Clay People and La Switch. Yet their sound is unique to them alone, while whirling in those sensibilities of some of the best music to come out of LA in years. Hunter Curra and Sara Radle produce beautiful and intoxicating harmonies, while the band, composed of members, Aaron Lariviere, Daniel Goldblatt, Adam Schary, Ethan Walter making them six in total, is musically focused on being jammy and intricate between the vocals while remaining danceable at the same time.

The audience was completely drawn into their performance, while swaying and singing along to the songs. My experience from this night's performance was one of watching a very different band then the band from only a couple of months ago. The maturity and confidence they have when they hit the stage, coupled with the band truly owning their music making in a way I have not experienced before is wonderful to witness. It was energetic and driven. They kept the set thrilling and in the moment for me and their fans. They started off the set boldly and by the second song they leaped into their new single "What We Forgot" pushing all the buttons with great harmonies driven with rich melodic tune-smithing and only taking a short break to introduce their longest and most devoted fan, a young lady named Lori, who attended Walking Sleep's very first gig. Toward the end they decided on 2 covers, including The Cure's "Alone With You" and Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane." Both songs were a stunning tribute to great song writers and they did proper homage to them both. The night closed out for me with their last song "Standing In The Threat." Click here to download some of their new songs.The song was a great closer for the sold out crowd and sent me off into the night with fond musical memories for a watershed event for a great new band.

Tags: The Flying Tourbillion Orchestra, Walking Sleep

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 7:56 am and is filed under live shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.