Scooping a syrupy dollop of psychedelia into the womb, the Holydrug Couple bathes the listener in a warm, enveloping floatscape. The Chilean duo’s most recent album, last year’s Hyper Super Mega, dishes out melodies like it’s sprinkling acid microdots over your morning oatmeal. Reassuringly, when performed live before one’s very ears, the LP’s tracks lose none of their cottony, dream pop charm.
Paris, in the presence of these two spellbinders, swoons.
Remember that the French are attuned to the wistful and the lush—their whimsical film soundtracks from the ’60s and ’70s have tenderized their sensibilities. Hyper Super Mega’s “Waterfalls” and “I’ll Only Say This” revive this tradition, drawing on the hip schmaltz of Air, the synth-y space lounge of Beach House and the lavish orchestration of the High Llamas.
Manuel Parra (drums) and Ives Sepúlveda (everything else) may hypnotize and entrance, but emotions do bubble to the surface. “Concorde” sways like a lazy ride on a schoolyard swing in summer. “If I Could Find You (Eternity)” is stoic in the face of loss, pensive and sweetly sorrowful. Even when crammed into the tight confines of the City Of Light’s Supersonic club, there are no spiky edges to the Holydrug Couple’s sound—only smooth romanticism and chill nostalgia.
Recommended drug pairing: one hit of Ecstasy with a Spanish tinto de verano chaser.
—Eric Bensel
