Isiah Reyes January 8th, 2016 - 4:35 AM
Christopher Baio, best known for being the bassist for the New York City-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend, will be performing at the El Rey Theatre on February 4. His debut solo album “The Names” was released through Glassnote Records on 18 September 2015.
In Baio’s downtime between tours with Vampire Weekend, he recognized in himself an increasing desire to explore his own individual voice away from the band. The sound of his solo output is strongly rooted in electronic music, where he had experienced a vast majority of it while DJing at college. He also shows off his own lyrical and vocal style to create something quite new and not easily categorized.
In the making of “The Names,” Baio explored ideas of space, occasioned by his own geographical shift — he and his wife relocated from New York to London in 2013, and he found himself struck by his new city’s expanse of sky, green space, globalness — elements that seem to infuse this record.
“I would be home from the Vampire Weekend tour, I would make maybe two rough instrumentals and then I would take those instrumentals back with me on tour,” he recalls, “traveling around listening to them, trying to write melodies, trying to write lyrics.” The result is a collection of nine tracks that portray his diversity in musical tastes through delicately somber moments to beautify lush sounds that cascade over rhythmic undertones. Be sure to catch Baio at the El Rey Theatre next month!
Baio @ El Rey Theatre 2/4
Thursday, February 4
Doors @ 8 PM
Show @ 9 PM
All Ages
