Chain Wallet @ Mercury Lounge, NYC

Live Reviews | Mar 12th, 2017

Chain Wallet, Dinowalrus, Hot Curl @ Mercury Lounge, NYC (1)

Date: March 10th, 2017
Opening Bands: Hot Curl, Dinowalrus

Chain Wallet from Bergen, Norway is a band I just got into last Fall and they quickly became a band I listen to daily now. I found their infectious dream pop to be just perfect for morning car rides. Thankfully, they made their way over to NYC before heading to SXSW next week. They shared the stage with NY indie bands Hot Curl and Dinowalrus.

It’s been awhile since going to a show at Mercury Lounge. I think the last band I saw there was New Model Army in 2009, probably the last time they played NYC. It’s a bit smaller than I remember. The show was listed to start at 7:30 but that’s when the doors opened. It seemed like things got pushed back 15 minutes or so.

The first band was Hot Curl from Brooklyn and I ended up liking their music a lot. Their sound was similar to Chain Wallet’s, a dream pop/ indie sound. Not sure what songs were played exactly but assuming music off their EP Beached was played. They played a new song, that they only played one other time, that sounded good as well. I felt like the majority of people there were family and friends of the band so that was cool. I wouldn’t mind seeing Hot Curl again!

Dinowalrus, also hailing from Brooklyn had a slightly different sound in that they were more shoegaze, psychedelic and post-punk. I liked hearing a few songs from them. I don’t know what it was about both opening bands, but the vocalists almost seemed shy talking in-between songs. Was hard to hear them at times. He will probably hate me for saying this or maybe he’s gotten this before, but the singer of Dinowalrus looked like a taller version of Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory but with longer hair. With that said, I liked their set as well and will be checking out their music on Spotify.

Chain Wallet were up last and were everything I hoped they would be live. They sounded like how they sounded on their album, even a little more upbeat and faster. About the only thing I couldn’t really hear was the synthesisers. But what I couldn’t hear from the synths, everyone else in the band made up for it especially the guitar work from Christian. Song after song, I kept watching him play the guitar because I was fascinated with the way he was bringing out those sounds.

For the most part, the band played the songs from their debut self-titled album as well as few others that weren’t on the album. I couldn’t help but sing along, bop my head and dance in place as I was taking pictures the entire set. The stand outs include “Pale Memories,” “Shade,” “Muted Colors,” “Faded Fight,” and “Remnants of a Night.” Having the extra members live seemed to make the sound even better as well. Not sure if they recorded with that many musicians but their sound seemed to be more upbeat in concert. More poppier and less dark I suppose.

I filmed two songs during their set since they didn’t really have much on YouTube and feel like people need to see them live. Of course, seeing Chain Wallet in person is the best way to see them live. If not, videos will be the second-best. I highly recommend listening to Chain Wallet and if you can get out to see them perform, definitely take advantage of that.