[twitter style=”horizontal” float=”left”]

[fbshare type=”button” width=”100″]

[pinterest count=”horizontal”]

Wild Belle at KRCW/Annenberg's "Sound In Focus" 7/23/16. Photo by Derrick K. Lee, Esq. (@Methodman13)

CLICK HERE FOR OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THIS YEARS SOUND IN FOCUS CONCERT SERIES

The lead members of Wild Belle, Elliot and Natalie Bergman, are no strangers to the music scene. The brother-sister duo began making jazzy tunes together long before the release of their first full-length album, “Isles” in 2013. The album proved to be successful when the invigorating track “Keep You” was featured in the movie Pitch Perfect as well as an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Word spread and indie music listeners from all over gravitated towards the psychedelic pop-ska band’s modern melange of sounds.

In April of this year, they released their second album entitled “Dreamland”. An accurate representation of its name, the album boasted the same deranged mix of genres ranging from indie pop to ska to folk to jazz. Just… totally incredible. Not only did they create projects that, on their own, gained much praise and attention, but they also collaborated with Major Lazer to bring us “Be Together”, a tune off the producer’s album “Peace is the Mission”. This track has gotten almost 30 million plays on Spotify and has been the most successful one they have released to date.

As the blazing red sun began to set under the smoky clouds of Los Angeles, Wild Belle opened the last night of Sound In Focus with “Mississippi River”, the first song off their new album. Instantly, I was transported to a different world through Natalie’s killer voice. The jazz influence was heavy in this one, and her vocals a bit dark and eery, contrasting beautifully with the sugar-coated lyrics. Her bluesy raspy voice was reminiscent to that of Ella Eyre or Amy Winehouse: divergent, pleasant, and one-of-a-kind.

The band performed more tracks off their new album including “The One That Got Away” and “Throw Down Your Guns”. Bass undertones shined through their reggae-inspired melodies and captured the hearts of the free spirits dancing in the field. It was quite the scene, and Wild Belle put on a tranquil show yet managed to emit all sorts of emotions through their music. I was impressed. At the end of their set, Natalie thanked everyone and urged the audience to “Come say hello!” She laughed as she jokingly added on, “We’ll be at the back of the stage. We can laugh… we can kiss… we can make out!” Her exuberant personality caught my attention and made me a listener.

Follow Wild Belle on Facebook and Twitter.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THIS YEARS SOUND IN FOCUS CONCERT SERIES

If an image below is pixelated, please click through the “view full size” link for a better view.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THIS YEARS SOUND IN FOCUS CONCERT SERIES

LIVE CLIPS

Comments

comments