Entering the “Quiet Life” of Washed Out at Metro
Article by Clara Copps
The rare chilly summer night we had last Friday created the perfect atmosphere for Washed Out’s show at Metro. Dubbed by Pitchfork as “the godfather of chillwave," the Georgia-based musician commanded the stage with a career-spanning setlist, highlighting tracks from his six musical projects. Frontman Ernest Greene’s confident demeanor on stage drew attention to his indie tenure, the crowd singing along to songs from June’s Notes from a Quiet Life all the way back to his 2009 EP Life of Leisure.
The show started off on a mellow note to Charlie and Margot, the current project of New Jersey songwriter Matteo DeBenedetti. He is filling in for this leg of the tour in place of Babehoven, who had to drop out due to a vocal injury. Though his lyrics are very somber, the singer kept the mood light by warning people, “this is going to be the most depressing part of the night”. He had a very conversational tone with the audience, remarking that he had driven from Pittsburgh that morning and asking for recommendations on where to eat after the show.
After the break, Washed Out came out on stage and stood between several layers of white curtains, with Greene out front as the main vocalist and projectors displaying a variety of abstract images across the screens. People had trickled in throughout the evening, resulting in a packed house for the main act. They started out with a few songs from their latest release, Notes from a Quiet Life, which came out earlier in this summer, including Waking Up and Say Goodbye. This album has a very cinematic sound, which was amplified during the show by Greene’s dreamy voice washing over the crowd.
About three quarters of the way through their set, Washed Out played what is arguably their most famous song, Feel it all around, which rose to popularity after being used in the title sequence of the show Portlandia. As the album cover suggests, this slightly psychedelic song is reminiscent of waves crashing onto shore on the west coast. An intricate visual display contributed to the effect of an immersive art experience.
Washed Out closed out their set with the high-energy Get Lost, off their 2017 album Mister Mellow, before coming back out to perform Too Late and Eyes Be Closed for the encore. During the show I ended up standing next to what I think was Washed Out’s biggest fan, as this guy was passionately dancing and singing along the whole show. All in all, it was a super fun evening and I was extremely impressed with the performance this band put on. This is their first time back in Chicago since 2022 and will be touring this album throughout the end of November.
I would recommend this band if you like artists such as Neon Indian, Wild Nothing, and Beach House, and you can listen to Washed Out on Spotify and Apple Music.