California natives Seahaven took the stage Thursday night at the Bottom Lounge, bringing an impressive set and all the best musicianship. Playing before the popular underground rock band Balance and Composure, Seahaven drew their own crowd of dedicated fans; a bunch of smiling faces pressed against the stage, anxiously waiting as the band sound checked on stage
The methodical guitar melody of “Black & White” filled the Bottom Lounge and despite the laid back beginning of the song from Seahaven’s second album, “Winter Forever”, the center of the crowd erupted into a chaotic mosh pit. It ended abruptly, and the band wasted no time moving into the next song. Soto’s chilling vocals marked the start of “Plague”, the opening track to their first album “Ghost”. The moshing and endless movement within the sizable crowd continued, with fans yelling every word back at Soto. The enthusiasm of the crowd was contagious and was one of the most enjoyable parts of the set. Both “Black & White” and “Plague” sounded as good, if not better, as the recorded versions.
As “Plague” ended, the band began the soft sound of the song “Whispers” from their newest album “Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only,” released in March of this year. This minute and forty-five second, instrumental song lulled the crowd to a calm sway from its chaotic state during the first two songs. The calm aura is only perpetuated as “Whispers” faded into fan favorite “Silhouette (Latin Skin)”. The entire crowd began to sing along with Soto, leaving the members of Seahaven visually impressed. During these two songs, the instrumentals were near perfect and Soto’s vocals sounded extremely clean. This section of the set was the highlight of the show. Soto was in his element as he sang the passionate lyrics of “Silhouette” and the instrumentals sounded just as impassioned. It was a prudent decision to incorporate these slower songs into their set and was further impressed with the flawless execution of both.
After “Silhouette (Latin Skin)”, the show picked up pace once again as Seahaven played songs “Flesh” and “Goodnight”. The crowd exploded once again; fans jumped in place, a mosh pit opened, even a lone crowd surfer appeared. I was excited when I heard the beginning to one of Seahaven’s most popular songs, “It’s Over”, from the album “Winter Forever”. The song live sounded just as great as the recorded version I had previously fallen in love with. The orchestrated chaos of the crowd was at its peak, as fans began to sense that the set was coming to its end.
“We’re Seahaven. Thanks for coming” announced Kyle Soto. Other than introducing the band at the beginning, this was the only time that the band spoke. The last song started abruptly and the slow opening guitar and relaxing vocals of “Wild West Selfishness”. Within the last minute of the song, it picked up pace, and both the crowd and band alike give one last outpouring of their remaining energy. Soto yelled out the final lyrics, “Someone left you looking for a reason/Found it in the Reverie Lagoon/Hate to see you lose you in illusion. Don’t forget who’s watching you.” The track encompassed Seahaven’s sound as a band and it was appropriate that they closed their set with such a representative song. Seahaven’s set was beyond enjoyable to watch and the band sounded extremely well put together live.