Cut Copy / Washed Out @ Pygmalion Festival (9/23)

When I saw Washed Out a couple years ago, it was just Ernest Greene and a laptop on stage and I left unimpressed. His opening set on Day 3 of Pygmalion Festival though, was a massive improvement and turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. What helped the most was the addition of a full band, including multiple synths, samplers, bass, trumpet, and live drums which created an extraordinarily more dense and full sound. The song themselves were another improvement, his newer stuff is far more upbeat and dynamic, while still incorporating the lush, swirling soundscapes that made Washed Out one of the pioneers of the chillwave movement. Sublime tracks like “Eyes Be Closed”, “Soft” and “Far Away” sounded huge and spacious and got the crowd swaying and dancing along, which more then prepared us for the absolute dance-fest that was Cut Copy’s headlining set.