I only first heard the name Seven Lions a month ago when I agreed to work the up-coming (now past) The Journey Tour show at the Catalyst Club. In all honesty, I didn’t even hear his–aka Jeff Montalvo’s–music until I wrote that last article about him the day of the show. Shit, I was missing out. But of course, you all probably already know that .
The 28 year old producer and DJ is one of the most talented on the scene today. Much like his hometown of Santa Barbara, Montalvo blends a concoction of different influences into a sound that’s glaringly rare and undeniably catchy. Since he hit the scene in 2010, the DJ who once told YourEDM.com “I’m too weird for the mainstream,” has torched his way through the underground by drawing from all aspects of the Electronic arena: trance, house, bass, dubstep, trap and many, many more. He might not be mainstream in the sense of Drake or Kanye, but he’s a big raft on a different stream altogether. And after all, isn’t one of the attractive aspects of this culture the fact that it’s something entirely on it’s own, unattached to the shit shoved down our ears on the radio?
Anyway, I digress.
Needless to say, I was amped going to work last Tuesday (10/18/16). Even after I heard it was sold out–which usually means a shit show–I was still amped. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a shit show at all because–not surprisingly–everyone there was looking for a good time of dancing, tripping and fun.
Scottish musician, GRUM, opened the night with a striking set, followed up by Unlike Pluto. Danish and Norwegian duo, Pegboard Nerds, rounded up third with their poppy and chaotic, video game sounds. Even after hours of solid dancing, the 800 person crowd went nuts as Seven Lions took over the deck. For an hour and a half he flowed a solid set in his signature style and busted out many crowd pleasing remixes. The Journey Tour continues until Dec. 2, so treat yo self to a ticket if it passes through your town. After all, don’t you think you deserve it?
weirdjournalism.com 