The Love Language – Live @ Bottom Of The Hill
Amy Schaefer is a friend of WOXY.com and a lover of music. She resides in San Fransisco and is a regular at the local music venues. She was in attendance last week for The Love Language at Bottom Of The Hill in San Fransisco and files this report….
Language is a peculiarity that makes us human. And inevitability as a human, you will at some point experience a broken heart. The Love Language is a result of just that. Stuart McLamb locked himself in a bedroom, wrung his pain into an 8 track player, and wrote and recorded nine tracks of redemption.
Now a seven piece band, The Love Language is on the road with Headlights promoting their self-titled debut. Recently they filled San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill with their fuzzed out lo-fi 60s-inspired indie rock. The band pulled up 20 minutes before they were scheduled to play. Empty Red Bull cans roll out of the van, they scurry inside, run into the back patio, greet Headlights Nick Sanborn with a hasty hi. yeah. we’re here. sorry man. just came from Portland.
Despite the race and scramble to get there, they hit the stage seemingly unphased and played every song off the album. McLamb and his brother Jordan took us on a little walk with “Stars”, a simple, sweet duet carried along with a tender tambourine and pulsing bass drum. During “Two Rabbits” I got lost in the prancing piano and pleading croons “I could have died in your arms, now I’m back at your feet.” I bopped and swayed to “Sparxxx”, a brighter song with a sparkling xylophone, tambourine, oohs and ahhs, rhythmic guitar, and a howling outpour of defeat at the end. The set wrapped up with accompaniment from Headlights’ Sanborn on accordion. Missy Thangs pixied through the audience shaking a happy tambourine during “Lalita”, the most upbeat track with a strong guitar riff, enthusiastic percussion, and shouty lyrics “don’t you hate these kisses” and “I’m talking to the devil but I think I heard an angel sing.”
Love speaks between joy and fear, delight and pain, bliss and madness. The band conveys this conflict through lyrics of love, death, and addiction but with an open, earnest heart while friendly, catchy melodies and hooks offset the darkness. McLamb turned his heartache into a beautiful story, but there are no words to describe The Love Language live.
The Love Language – Manteo (Live On WOXY.com)
The Love Language – Providence (Live On WOXY.com)
The Love Language – Two Rabbits (Live On WOXY.com)
The Love Language – Sparxxx (Live On WOXY.com)
The Love Language – Stars (Live On WOXY.com)
More photos after the jump…
