Out Of Hibernation: Peaking Lights

PEAKING LIGHTS

GLASS HOUSE

POMONA, CA

29 MARCH, 2014

Peaking Lights laid down the latest in a series of sneaks with an appearance at Pomona's Glass House. The husband/wife duo of Indra Dunis and Aaron Coyes has been playing it cool for the last year or so, adding another son to the family and stockpiling new music for a release later this year on Weird World. It's been a good while since last we caught up with them at the 2012 Woodsist Festival at Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.
They've been making select appearances in and around their LA home base to road test new stuff, most recently in mid March with No Age at the Eagle Rock Performing Arts Center. This evening's set built strongly on their last release Lucifer. More to the point, as their live shows always due, it was the subsequent dub version of Lucifer that provided the working vibe, and they certainly did not shy away from the heavy, heavy sound.
"LO HI" and "Cosmic Tides" got things off to a booming start, and the big treat was a new song, (video below), dropped in toward the end of the set. So exciting to see Peaking Lights back in business, and rest assured, more tuneups are on the way, leading up to an appearance at the Austin Psych Fest.

Father John Misty: Further Adventures...

FATHER JOHN MISTY

WHITE FENCE

GLASS HOUSE, POMONA, CA

22 JUNE, 2013

Last time we caught up with Father John Misty, it was an intimate show at the Soho nightclub in Santa Barbara, heralding the end of his winter tour. After a break, he regrouped to perform at Coachella, and shot through a string of dates across the country. In June, he stopped in Pomona, CA at the Glass House, and put the flame to the heat with a show that kept the bar high, introduced another new song, and ended with one of his wide-ranging covers. As heard in the videos below, it was a home crowd, hooting at his lines, even on the new songs. He wasted no time getting comfortable, wading into the crowd during the opening "Fun Times In Babylon", grabbing an audience member's cell phone, and proceeding to debate the merits of different models.
One of the highlights was the inclusion of the rarely-heard 'bonus verse' to "Everyman Needs A Companion", complete with it's winning line about "matching friendship pentagram tattoos", captured in all its glory below. This I first heard at last fall's benefit for Aaron Embry.

At Soho, we were treated to two new songs from what has been confirmed as a new work in progress: the title track "I Love You Honey Bear" and "We Met At The Store". This evening gave us the gift of "Bored In The USA".

It wouldn't be a Father John Misty show without a notable encore, and this was no exception, as he cherry-picked "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", from The Beatles White Album.

 It was the perfect end to another scintillating performance, with the band hitting on all cylinders, and kind of bittersweet, not knowing when the full unit will reappear. As for the previously mentioned new project, tracking has commenced on the new LP, with info/photo courtesy of the good Father.

White Fence kicked the night off, this time the lineup was just mastermind Tim Presley and a drummer. Our last encounter was at the Woodsist Festival in 2012, and this performance was more obviously focused on Presley, than the band/jamming dynamic that held form there. It was an uneven set, with them wrestling to control the sound, but the weight of his catalogue dictates that, when they were on, everything was going to be okay, and the last half of his set more than lived up to form.