Diandra Reviews It All

Private Island left me floored with a performance that modernized soul: LITERALLY! The SoCal band has made quite a buzzed name for themselves in the LA music scene , and traveled to conquer NYC hearts. Although, on record, their music sounds like slow-burning electro-rock, in concert, they felt like a Millennial soul band. Thus, they turned Knitting Factory into a private island of good music.

What makes soul? Is it the sounds or the singer? I ask this because Private Island were, certainly, indie-rock /pop meets electronica. Their music is laced with a lax, SoCal vibe that gives fizzles of psychedelia through fuzzed keys, bumbled chords, and whirred synths. If anything, their sound is like a hit of happy hallucinations; neon bubbles and relishable rays twirl around your mind as the voice of Christian Lum feverishly scintillates you. His voice has a ripe blend of rasp meets clarity; like a clear river running through shiny pebbles. For however much he glistens and flows his notes, there are rocks of emotionality that radiate in tracks like “Juvenile” , “Turbulence”, and “Drugs”. Meanwhile, Michelle Guerrero was not left behind in serving a smooth sense of jagged heart. Her voice, too, blends a sense of cool sensuality/ sentimentality being cut small by fractures in its path. If Lum just bounced to the music, when she sang, she moved like music was running from her fingers to her toes.Thus, adding a layer of dynamism to slacked vibrancy.

For having such chilled personas, their music played into the moments a person feels as if they are breaking apart. We all have been rocked by relationships and situations that made us feel as if, beyond our skin, our insides were crumbling. We only appeared okay compared to how “not” we were, which is why their smiling, “go with the flow” dynamics furthered the essence of their music. If anything, music is another mask we put over our sentiments, with rhythms and verses being the veils we use to shroud feeling or graze over them. As the crowd jumped and cheered to tracks from their last EP, Sunbreak, it was a if California came to New York to lyrically show that you can be calm but you are not always collected. Personally, I love when music speaks to human truths, and Private Island’s records certainly do. Thus, they infectiously give a sonic/ personal liveliness in their show by being a big band that, simply, wants to have a good time, which is only furthered by their message that you can be balanced even when you are feeling beaten. For More Information On Private Island Click Here.