Optimus Primavera Sound. Hugo Lima/Optimus Primavera Sound
Optimus Primavera Sound’s second day of concerts was assuredly the big day of the festival, with major headliners Blur stepping up to play one of the most important concerts in Portuguese soil this year. But there was so much more to it.
After a successful European and American tour, which included a Bolachas Session and some SXSW showscases, our friends Plastic Flowers went back to their Thessaloniki studio to record their debut album, tentatively named Ghosts. The first song to be revealed off the 11-track LP is the synth-heavy pop goodie "Fog Song". I don’t have to do it myself, you can tell they’re going places.
Will Stratton is a very talented musician: on his 25th birthday he had already produced four great albums full of amazing indie folk songs. Luckily I met Will last year, when he came from New York to Paris during his European tour with Paleo. I saw his concert in a charming apartment in Montmartre and the day after I saw him again in my favorite Parisian record store, Balades Sonores. With him Will brought his guitar and his last album, Post-Empire. The two little concerts made me fell in love with his songs and after that I listened to the album over and over again: it was my favorite album of 2012.
Optimus Primavera Sound 2013. Hugo Lima/Optimus Primavera Sound
Another year has passed and here we are, mssng Porto and the lovely Parque da Cidade, thinking about how perfect its location, its organization, its quiet pace, all the green spaces and, of course, its always interesting lineup (I can’t help but say it’s been really difficult to find some minutes to take a break and eat something both on Friday and Saturday) makes it the best – and the most confortable! – festival we’ve all been to. Primavera, please never change your mind. Expanding to Porto was the best thing you could’ve done for this city and for European music fans. Thank you.
House of Wolves @ Divan du Monde (Paris) – 24/05/2013
House of Wolves represents the direct translation of Villalobos, the Hispanic name of the owner of this musical project. After self-releasing his first album, Fold in the Wind, in 2011, almost two years later the album is distributed by the French label Fargo. This was the bridge to the inclusion of House of Wolves in the first edition of Fargo Rock City Festival in Paris. Divan du Monde was a bit empty, but it was somehow expectable, as we had Villagers and Deerhunter that played in two neighbouring venues in the same night…
Alone on stage with his guitar, Rey timidly started the concert with “Jealous”, showing everyone that his voice is as amazing live as it is on record. “Flight” came next and it was probably the song that filled most my heart with positive feelings (“Baby, you’re the one, baby, baby, you’re the one…”). The highlight of the concert was the opening song of Fold in the Wind, where Rey spreads a vintage tune and the sweet request “kiss me like if the 50’s…”.
Even without other instruments but the guitar, we all enjoyed the songs of this little man with a cool squared shirt that landed in Paris directly from Los Angeles. Maybe because the jetlag, the concert was too short, with only 8 songs… It was early and everybody was in concentrated in the songs, so it would be perfect to listen the entire album. At the end of the show, Rey came down directly among the public, handshaking almost everybody in the room. It was the perfect end of a nice and very intimate show.
You can check House of Wolves’ beautiful album on his bandcamp. Please try to catch him next time that he shows up in Europe!
RBC