On Thursday night, Tycho christened the opening week of the Bellwether with his signature ambient, dreamy electronic sound landscapes.
Tycho was night 3 of an impressive first week run for LA’s newest venue. The 1,600-capacity music hall opened on Tuesday with Phantogram, hosted Buscabella on Wednesday night, and finishes the week with Panda Bear & Sonic Boom on Friday. Living up to the owner’s promise, it’s an eclectic and remarkable first week of programming. Tycho lived up to his end up the bargain and produced both a visual and audible powerhouse.
Scott Hansen and company have taken a few years off since consistently touring. I last shot them in 2020, once month before the pandemic started. Since then, he mentioned that he and another member of the band have had two kids each. He also mentioned they were happy to be back and new music is on the way. He played “Time to Run”, one of those new tunes, on Thursday during his encore and it had a decidedly different feel than a lot of his previous work. It’s buoyant and funky, filtering his style through a more light hearted and optimistic lens that’s maybe reflective of where he is now in his life.
Early set highlights included the Dive opener “A Walk”, the sweeping “Coastal Brake”, and crowd pleaser “Awake”. The latter, which has made its rounds from cool parties, yoga playlists, and coffee shops, took on a new life with the piercing guitar from bandmate Zac Brown.
Tycho continues their short tour in Napa this Saturday before, I’d guess, planning a full roll out of new music later this year. To keep up with all things Tycho, head over to their website here.
Photos + Review by Andrew Ameter | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!