Show Recap: Sun June, Why Bonnie, and Evangeline @ Zebulon
Zebulon is a cozy East Side LA hideaway that regularly hosts both heavyweights and rising stars alike, attracting a broad spectrum of Los Angeles' alternative culture denizens looking to bask in the underground sound. This past Friday evening the venue hosted a night of storytellers featuring the talents of local singer-songwriter Evangeline and performances from some of the Lone Star State's brightest luminaries in the form of up-and-coming ensemble Why Bonnie and accomplished favorites, Sun June.
Evangeline took the stage early, quipping that many in attendance may have just gotten up not too long ago and radiating an easy familiarity with the environs and the audience. Launching into her set, Evangeline's delicate presence soon gave way to a strikingly resolute humble confidence, imbuing very real stories of being young and dumb and in love with a sense of fortitude transcending the youthful perspective of these seemingly semi-autobiographical tales. It didn't take long for the hovering audience to coalesce at the foot of the stage, like dusty moths drawn towards the radiant warmth of Evangeline's authentic incandescence and playfully suggestive poetry. The set was brief but full of beautiful complexities, exciting the mind and senses like a first sip of wine.
With the slow progress of a summer sunset Why Bonnie's expansive sound stretched beyond the walls of Zebulon like the never-ending horizon of the Texas prairies. Affixed to the center of the endless sonic expanse was the band itself, a singular point of focus that staged the cornfields and tractors and people populating the lyrics as set-pieces in the periphery, the breadth of a lifetime distilled down into an authentically intimate portrait of rural Americana viewed from a lonely Brooklyn balcony half a continent away from home. Why Bonnie's measured vibrancy was on full display, accenting texturally intertwined guitar, vocals, and keys with a surprisingly thick bassline that occasionally flirted with a funky vibe, electrifying wholesome melancholy with a danceable buoyancy. With the audience singing along to every song it was readily apparent that Why Bonnie's first LA performance most certainly won't be the band's last.
In comparison to their bill-mates Sun June took the stage as elder statespeople, or perhaps older siblings, in comparison to the fresh-faced acts that warmed the stage before them. With a pair of acclaimed LPs under their belt, Sun June are deft performers that are notably adept at translating the wide-open vistas of their native Texas into indie rock's more urban attitudes. The resulting sound borrows heavily from the alt-country playbook but tinged with hints of psychedelia that exposes the influence of Los Angeles' attitude on the band's more stable down-home roots. With a compelling smokiness that feels halfway between ultra-hip city act and the house band at a back country honkey-tonk, Sun June truly feels like they exist in two different worlds. "It's a complicated relationship with California," vocalist Laura Colwell admits in between songs with a wry smile, acknowledging the juxtaposed contradictions in Sun June's identity and the no-nonsense confidence it takes to pull it all off... and what's more Texas than that?