Youth Lagoon in Whelan’s on October 31st 2013

Whelan’s provides a comforting shelter from the hordes of zombies, superheroes and all other forms of make-up clad Halloween fans that prowl the streets of Dublin on this Thursday night. Trevor Powers, aka Youth Lagoon, is the evening’s main attraction, with his first visit to Ireland drawing in quite a substantial crowd. First to the stage though are Slow Skies, warming up the audience with their sweet, slow and melodic tunes. Their sound is indebted heavily to the that exhibited by The XX, but Karen Sheridan’s rich vocals contribute to making the band’s tunes sound fresh and original.

Sporting a bizarre mixture of Halloween costumes and masks, Youth Lagoon emerge on stage and launch into Attic Doctor. The powerful presence of a live drummer injects some venom into the act’s live performance, emphasising the contrast between the quiet and loud sections much more so than on record. Powers’ mask impairs his singing, but once discarded his vocals resonate strongly around the venue; most importantly he resists the urge to douse his voice in a vat of reverb, as other artists of this electropop sound are often inclined to do.

The band take the surprising step of playing possibly their two best songs mid-set. 17 and Mute are exceptional and stand-out performances, but it does feel as if the gig has climaxed too soon. That doesn’t take away from the quality of Mute though, where the wonderfully distorted, high-pitched outro riff sparks the most breath-taking instrumental jam of the night. 17 is equally magnificent, building up gradually, before exploding with the same amount of velocity as Mute. The rest of the set remains highly impressive, but ultimately fails to match the brilliance of these two tracks.

Youth Lagoon’s songs take you by the hand and walk you calmly to the edge of a precipice, before the explosive instrumental jams shove you off the edge and scream at you as you hurtle through the delightful synth/dreampop soundscapes. Despite performing their best tunes a bit too early on in the set, Youth Lagoon provide a highly enjoyable alternative for Halloween night.