From Panorama Music Festival 2018: Liana’s Sunday Sound Bites

Panorama’s execution has been less than ideal, to no fault of its own. Between Cardi B’s pregnancy, the Friday rain debacle, and Lil Wayne’s last-minute no-show, cancellation threatened to be the theme of the festival. Instead, thanks to some of the remaining acts on Sunday, the more important trend of the day was inventive instrumentation.

David Byrne

David Byrne’s spectacle was all about getting existential and laughing at yourself for it—that is, until a trouble arises that can’t be laughed at. Until the last song, his set was marked by farcical solemnity and a seriously impressive percussion lineup. The band circled in barefoot rituals with their African drums and guitars in tow, marching-band style. (The African-derived beat was most danceable in “I Zimbra,” a Talking Heads song.) “I Dance Like This” featured the funniest pantomiming and most mercurial sound: Jumping between gentle folkish verses and punk choruses, Byrne kept a straight face while showing off a stilted thumbs-up dance move. And he delivered an increasingly flustered philosophical rant in “Once In A Lifetime,” a Talking Heads classic, at the end of which the band broke into an exuberant celebration as if finally embracing the inevitable passage of time described in the lyrics.

The set wasn’t all absurdist, though. It was also overtly political at times. Byrne encouraged the audience to vote whenever possible. (Born in Scotland, he got his American citizenship recently, he told the crowd.) He ended with a cover of Janelle Monáe’s “Hell You Talmbout,” which enumerates the names of black Americans killed by the police. Monáe had performed the composition at the Women’s March on Washington in 2017. “Sadly, the song is still as relevant now as it was then,” Byrne said. It would have been nice if the audience were as eager to chant the names as it had been to sing “Burning Down the House.”

Mount Kimbie

The electronic team that has produced instrumentation for Chance the Rapper, Justin Bieber, and King Krule performed surprising sound collages that recalled the rhythms of urban commotion. The English duo of Kai Campos and Dominic Maker was joined by singer Andrea Balency], and the group retained clarity in each layer of sound from bassline to melodious static. They bobbed around charmingly while bending over their synthesizers. Their music also brought out some of the day’s most creative dancing in the audiene. “You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure)” started up with train-chugging sounds and Andrea Balency’s full, piercing vocals and synthesizer twirls. The entrance of horn-like synth sounds turned the sobriety to a dance party, and a brilliant drum solo drove the sonic train off the rails in the best way possible.

Fleet Foxes

Muddy sound quality inhibited this Seattle folk-rock band’s gig. In concert, Frontman Robin Pecknold’s voice was folksier and more strenuous than in recording. This wouldn’t have been a downside on its own, but coupled with heavy guitar work and the burying of the drums, it contributed to the loss of the songs’ characteristic lulling lilt.

It seemed promising when they brought out The Westerlies, a trombone and trumpet quartet also from Seattle. However, they too were muffled. Sadly, it was also impossible to hear the effect of a guitar being bowed like a violin. The mountain and rain visuals behind them rang trite, living up to neither the far-reaching content of their recent album “Crack-Up” or the intriguing album art of their past. A good number of fans appeared to be singing along just so everyone could see they knew the words. On Friday, Fleet Foxes’ former drummer Josh Tillman had been scheduled to perform at the festival as Father John Misty, but the rain cancellations robbed Panorama of the chance to compare the band’s severed parts.

Odesza

“Romantic” isn’t usually the word for electronic music, but Odesza nailed the sentiment. Night fell over their space cinema-aesthetic backdrops. The strangely sensual sci-fi beats of their latest album, “A Moment Apart,” were made even more majestic by an emotive, shiny, almost desperate live trombone. A track that they described as “a new one just for you guys” dragged a little but continued to intensify the dreaminess. Like Byrne, Odesza used a marching-band drumline, but this one stoically performed in-place choreography, swinging at the drums as if beheading them in slow motion. The Odesza drumline is so notable it even has its own Instagram page. In fact, the entire set was post-worthy, with its digital exploding fireworks and theatrically silhouetted musicians.

—Staff Writer Liana E. Chow can be reached at liana.chow@thecrimson.com.