I remember seeing Men I Trust make their LA debut three years ago at the Echoplex. That’s where their show last Saturday night was originally set to take place — but it got moved to the much larger Belasco downtown. And with good reason — the place was packed to the gills.
Men I Trust has grown considerably since bursting onto the scene with the single “Tailwhip” — a song they kicked off their set Saturday night with — albeit a muted version of the song. The crowd didn’t mind, they sung along to the tune wholeheartedly.
A majority of their set Saturday came from tunes from their pandemic record Untourable Album — which, because this pandemic has gone on so long, actually became a tourable album. Favorites “Oh Dove” and “Tree Among Shrubs” got the biggest applause, but many also appreciated the older tunes from 2019’s record Oncle Jazz — like “Days Go By” and “All Night”.
Men I Trust has grown beyond most chill indie-pop bands’ reach — and with good reason. They got an early co-sign from Tyler the Creator and put onto his Camp Flog Gnaw festival lineup in 2018 — and I saw a number of Golf and Odd Future sweatshirts in the crowd to corroborate his impact on their fan base. Their dream-pop sound has caught fire and they will continue to build on their success.
Opening act Michael Seyer just released his excellent full-length album A Good Fool on September 24 — and he got to play a number of tunes from it with his band. He was even joined by one of Men I Trust’s bandmates on the triangle for a song. The Gardena, California bedroom pop artist had a full crowd in the room to see his set, and he definitely had some hardcore fans among them.
His songs have a classic ’70s and ’70s pop tempo to them and his angelic vocals had the crowd swooning.
Check out Justin Higuchi‘s photos of both bands below!
MEN I TRUST:
MICHAEL SEYER:
FULL GALLERY:
