Monday night at Kings Barcade, Givers visited Raleigh with two special guests, hometown friends imagineIAM and Michigan-based Lord Huron.
imagineIAM has a very unique sound – big on drums and everything you can do with them. This was their first tour, so the crowd and other performers that night joined in on the excitement.
Lord Huron joined the stage next. They mixed indie pop with folk elements, creating an interesting sound. I hadn’t heard of them before, but it’s a band I would love to revisit. With ukuleles, guitars, shakers and drums, the band’s last song was fitting – “When Will I See You Again.”
Givers took the stage around 11p.m. Their first full-length studio album, “In Light,” was released June 2011. I fell in love
with the 51-minute album immediately. When I heard they were coming to Raleigh I couldn’t wait. The indie pop band from Lafayette, Louisiana is a five-piece that plays about twice that number of instruments on stage. Tiffany Lamson banged on drums with a uke on her back and dabbling with a fringe-laced xylophone on some songs. Taylor Guarisco, the other main vocalist, danced spaztically around on stage, jumping, kicking, and shaking his booty. The band had great
chemistry – they joked around with each other during and between their upbeat songs. Everything sounded just as good, if not better, than the recordings on the album. The vocals were amazing, and seeing how the music was made was something I wasn’t expecting. Drummer and vocalist Kirby Campbell kept complex and interesting beats all night, Nick Stephan switched instruments every few songs (flute, saxophone, keyboard), and bassist and guitarist Josh LeBlanc danced around alternating between the two.