ACL Spotlight: Gardens & Villa

When looking at the ACL lineup, we ATH kids always get really excited about the middle of the day bands.  For starters, those are typically the bands in the prime of their career, coming off a recent well constructed album.  Not to mention that the crowds aren’t quite as big and you’re just getting into that mid-day buzz.  While perusing those afternoon bands this year, I first took notice of upstart Santa Barbara group Gardens & Villa.  Follow the jump for more.

My first exposure to Gardens & Villa came a couple of years ago when they released interesting singles “Star Fire Power” and “Black Hills”.  My initial intrigue lead to repeated listens of their debut LP from 2011, which continues to be one of the most underrated albums of that year.  Within that debut, you had some heavy synthesizers, great vocal harmonies, and several beautifully crafted pop tunes.  Think of them as a grown ups version of Foster the People.  Yeah, I went there.

With my approval in mind, I happened upon the band playing an early show one day during SXSW over at the French Legation.  Everyone on hand seemed to be presently surprised by the live performance of the band that day.  Not to say we weren’t expecting it, but what is really going through your mind when the lead singer comes out on stage equipped with Native American style quiver holding his many flutes?  It was a great live show, with and without the flutes, so this band is now a must see for me on Friday of ACL.

You can catch the live set by Gardens & Villa on Saturday at 2pm over on the BMI stage.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/02-Cruise-Ship.mp3]

Download: Gardens & Villa – Cruise Ship [MP3]