At home with Porches

“Hi hi.”

Synth lord, frontman, the brains behind Porches, Aaron Maine, stepped onto the stage with a gentle introduction that easily wooed every being in the venue.

Porches had a two-night residency at The Chapel in San Francisco this week, and The B-Side got to participate in the beautifully moody dance-fest induced by standout electronic beats and Maine’s distinctly resonant, yet airy, vocals. I could not stop my hands from resting on my cheeks throughout the show in awe of the graceful human performance.

Projected atop the stage was “The House,”– the title of the band’s third album in support of its release in January this year. Before The House (2018) debut, Porches released singles “Country” and shortly after, “Find Me” around October 2017, teasing those awaiting new bops since their sophomore album, Pool (2016).

Accompanying the releases of both songs were music videos, one of which features Maine idling away in a truck bed as he passes through familiar suburban spaces within what seems to resemble his New York hometown. Both tracks evoke intimate experiences, crippling anxiety, and the glum realization that the comfort sought in another’s company can sometimes only come from within. Despite Maine’s melancholy lyricism, there is an underlying hopefulness in the beloved chorus of “Find Me.”

“Think I’ll go / Somewhere else / Where I can sink/ Into myself / Just watch me go / Just watch me go”

The dissociation expressed in the chorus seems like it’s done simply to gain clarity through self reflection. The lyrics are supplemented with a steady and upbeat techno rhythm paired with electronically produced vocals, which puts the voluntary loneliness Maine embarks on in a positive light. The track leaves you dancing away, feeling alright with your own perpetual state of confusion … and even yourself as a whole—It’s amazing. The two consecutive shows essentially stimulated a prolonged and intensified version of this warm sensation.

It’s March and we’ve soaked up the entirety of Porches’ newly released masterpiece only to be surprised by the even better experience that is witnessing it live. Porches opened with a soft, dancey tune, “Now The Water.” During the show, Maine broke out in a fashionable hip swaying exhibition, while retaining a faint and contagious smile well after the song faded out in satisfying distortions. The band alternated between the more trance-y, DIY, rock infused songs from the new album and some of the polished, chill, indie electronic Pool (2016) classics like “Underwater,” “Mood,” “Glow,” and “Car.”

For a couple songs from The House (2018) like “Goodbye” and “Anymore,” Maine set his guitar aside and started grooving to the funky beats he produced with a cowbell. Everyone was captivated by these noises and was even more motivated to dance. Each tap of the bell was like a constant reminder that you exist and that your sole purpose in that moment was to keep dancing. Fans in the back repeatedly yelled, “More cowbells! More cowbells!” once “Goodbye,” a personal favorite of mine, came to a bittersweet ending.

Before playing “Understanding,” a short love song written and originally sung by his dad, Maine respectfully interrupted the seemingly non-disruptive murmurs in the crowd requesting fans to “please be quiet.” This is such a commendable act by Maine because it shows his conscious effort to engage fans through his art, while also urging them to listen to his father’s useful wisdom.

Towards the end, the band performed a couple of hard hitting reverb-drenched songs from Slow Dance in the Cosmos (2013), including “Permanent Loan” and “Headsgiving,” which gave us a treat of the old, angstier, more indie rock, DIY-or-die Porches.

Porches closed with the very fitting, “Leave The House.” I left with echoes of The House (2018) in my head, feeling grateful to have experienced Aaron Maine’s eccentricities, delicate, yet subtly extravagant mannerisms, peculiar hand gestures, water metaphors (me: a titillated Scorpio), and live narrations about growth and moving forward.