Concert Review: Vancouver Sleep Clinic Get Metaphysical At Bowery
I don’t know what triggered my epiphany, but, somewhere between the songs “Closure” and “Someone To Stay,” I realized that Vancouver Sleep Clinic embodies what I have been saying about music for awhile, but I never found the right words. Nowadays, genres are all over the place. Every music style is fused with another, and back-dropped to emote the sentimental stand of the artist. Yet, at Bowery Ballroom, between the lighting and the fans, I realized that, in some ways, VSC are riding the new, metaphysical wave of the music scene.
It feels every song is talking about self-love, empowerment, or dealing with a batch anxious demons. VSC plays into new music’s wave of introspection by sounding like a light-year warping through time, space, knowledge, feelings, and philosophy: i.e. metaphysics. For God Sakes! VSC literally played a song called “Ayahuasca,” which totally makes sense when you see lead singer Tim Bettinson perform. He immerses into his songs like a man whose shaman has commanded him to take the peyote, go to the river, and come back with a message from the Heavens. Nearly, every song felt like a message you would receive from an LSD trip: deeply spiritual, personal, and totally fueled by something you inhaled.
Vancouver Sleep Clinic – Summer ’09 (Official Video)
I like Tim Bettinson because I like performers that feel dualistic. He could laugh at himself and toss in a tale or a quick check-in on the crowd, but then nosedive into a song as if his voice can reach to the literal of music. PICTURE THAT! Imagine holding a note until you feel its frequency has tapped into the very core of Music like she is a woman resting in another dimension, but only awakens with a worthy voice. Bettinson has it, and the Aussie, ambient singer totally fits the “vibe” scene growing within music’s current sphere. Moreover, he approaches his concert/ audience like that guy, from university, who would call himself “Lobo” and sleep in the common room; the one who was totally down to chill with anyone and completely ready to backpack across Latin America with nothing but granola bars and Che Guevara’s diaries. You know you know that guy, but, more importantly, you love him because he feels free.
Vancouver Sleep Clinic – Bad Dream (Official Video)
Humanity doesn’t really know what to do or how to approach the fact that we hearts, souls, and minds. After all, we cannot touch, see, smell, taste, or hear any of those things in the same way we can our body. They are intuitive, of which Vancouver Sleep Clinic embrace the guttural enlightenment of that comes from having “Flaws,” a “Bad Dream,” or realizing it is “Killing Me To Love You.” For More Information On Vancouver Sleep Clinic Click Here.
