STREAM: Breakers by Local Natives

The highly buzzed about Silver Lake-based band Local Natives released their critically acclaimed and generally wonderful debut album back in February of 2009, almost four years ago. That’s like a decade in blog-years. That much time between albums for a brand new group usually ends up being pretty fatal to a band’s success. So when the group quietly announced the pending release of their sophomore effort with a new track, my excitement at the prospect of new material was somewhat tempered by the circumstances surrounding it. With hype cycles and musical attention spans growing ever smaller, with music consumers’ sonic tastes turning on a dime by the month rather than the year or the decade, and with this being the band’s second album (historically, the second album is the one where most promising young buzz acts fail to deliver on the potential of their debut and quickly lose the attention of their audience), new material from Local Natives seemed primed to underwhelm.

But one run through new track “Breakers” and it looks like these guys are going to be the exception to the rule. And although the song starts out with some slightly anxious and not particularly melodic sounding guitar(?) strums laid over the sound of some moaning whale/fog horn, which, on first listen, is not an encouraging start, the following onslaught of warm harmonies, rushing drums and twinkling keys that come cascading through the speakers quickly washes away any fear of a sophomore slump. Even more so than in 2009, Local Natives is a band to watch.

Chris aims to expose viewers to some of the most legit tunes of the times, peeling back the layers of what’s relevant in current music events, with up-to-date posts of new artists and releases. Living in Chicago, Chris manages his own blog Brown Bear Wants Honey dedicated to new music releases, clips of new musicians, and announcements of upcoming shows at cool venues.

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