Having worked off a lot of the rock-tinged aggression the night before, a sleep in on day two of Sasquatch! was a well earned treat. With that in mind, the music always comes first, and we appropriately rushed ourselves for a decent spot in the queues before the 11am opening of the gates.
Seattle Rock Orchestra (a community-based outfit that collaborates with local artists) provided a huge shift in tone from the frantic energy of the day prior, kicking off at midday with a set of Radiohead covers. Several switches in vocalist saw an interesting dynamic that ebbed and flowed from track to track and vocalist to vocalist. Ultimately, it was an interesting experience but perhaps a little too relaxing - I eventually dozed off on the lawn and I was far from alone.
From there we made our way to the main stage and relaxed in the afternoon sun some more as Swedish three-piece The Radio Dept. jettisoned some perky and thoroughly enjoyable electro-indie tunes on an unfortunately sparse (for the size of the stage, at least) audience.
Soon after came our first foray into the comedy tent for a double header. For all intents and purposes, Matt McCarthy was blatantly insufferable. Not only did his attempts at humour fell flat (themes including ejaculate-eating gorillas and suicide notes were milked to exhaustion), but it came off as so incredibly amateur that any of the few people who endured his set could have written far better material. Not to dwell though; Tig Notaro soon followed and brought the tent to the best kind of tears with her dry, deadpan wit and a staple of ridiculously funny anecdotes about, amongst others, 80’s pop star Taylor Dane.
Feeling considerably fresh after a good stretch of laughter, we made our way back to the Bigfoot stage for a peek into Aloe Blacc’s set, where he provided a refreshing change in pace – music you could dance to. Taking heavy cues from a bunch of soul/funk legends, he still managed to draw an enviable crowd and impress them with some thick beats and dynamic vocals. We also caught the tail end of the Local Natives set – not enough to go in to length about it, but just enough to know I wanted to see more. Wolf Parade took to the same stage a short while after, powering through a strong set that went perhaps all too fast – a sure fire compliment if any.
A switch in stages ushered in a strange afternoon.
Jenny & Johnny and Matt & Kim, back to back, was a strange event. Despite a favourable familiarity with Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice’s individual musical pursuits, their onstage union left me a little cold. They were perhaps a little too comfortable with each other – meandering through their tracks with a decent sound but an underwhelming execution. In stark contrast, Matt & Kim burst out with a high energy set that, while borderline kitsch, managed to appeal to the senses and invoke some excitement – particularly during the upbeat ‘It’s A Fact’, which saw the audience flail and clap under a blanket of hundreds of balloons.
Swedish pop queen Robyn was next up and delivered a tour de force set of her trademark electro-pop anthems. Working with just an hour, she drew heavily from her recent Body Talk trilogy, and while her most notorious track ‘With Every Heartbeat’ was notably absent, she still served an outrageous performance that teemed with energy and deceptively accomplished artistry. The funny thing with Robyn is that she doesn’t rely on smoke and mirrors to wow, and yet she still manages to dominate the stage with her hyper-like dancing, flanked only by her jumpsuit wearing band, and sell it better than any of her contemporaries.
Head abuzz and feet ablaze, the last stop for the night was back to the main stage to catch Death Cab For Cutie bring the masses back down to the ground. While my personal appreciation for the band is centred around their 2003 album Transatlanticism, they easily won me over with a soothing, melodic set that washed over like a series of late-night lullabies. Sometimes the crowd sang along with, something they sat and basked in gentle inflections of Ben Gibbard’s vocals, but all in all it was the perfect way to wind down from a rather eclectic day, and no one seemed to mind in the least…