BØRNS births some disco fever at the Echo

Kevin Bronson on
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“You look so nice under the disco lights,” Garrett Borns told an unusually robust (for 8:45 p.m.) crowd at the Echo on Tuesday night. The Michigan native didn’t look so bad himself, in a manner of speaking. For his band BØRNS‘ first Los Angeles show, he was decked out in a colorful jacket (an “amazing technicolor dreamcoat,” somebody tweeted), skinny jeans … and a pheasant shoulder wrap.

The 22-year-old could have been dressed in cling wrap over a leopard suit for all the audience cared – they came to see whether BØRNS had anything else in their arsenal besides the insanely catchy single “10,000 Emerald Pools.” It turns out they did – six more originals and an arching, solo cover of “It’s My Party,” a hit in 1965 for Lesley Gore.

It was the highlight of a strange night at the Echo; the crowd had dissipated by the time headliners Circa Waves unleashed their tightly wound guitar rock at 11 p.m. The Liverpool quartet, who remind you (in a good way) of every British guitar band who’ve tried to conquer the U.S. in the 12 years, showcased songs from their “Young Chasers” EP and then some. Middle-billed quartet Wild Party wasn’t.

BØRNS, though, spread some disco fever. Already signed to Interscope, Borns is blessed with a Jeff Buckley-esque falsetto, and the songs in his set suggested a more rockist version of Gotye or Mika. And fronting a band featuring guitarist Connor Doyle, singer-keyboardist Lauren Salamone Perez, bassist Jon Joseph and hard-hitting drummer Kristen Gleeson-Prata, Borns proved quite the poised performer as well.

After starting the show with the current single, he told a story about missing the band’s plane from New York City because he’d stayed out too late a show the night before and overslept. He joked that the R&B-flavored tune “The One” “kinda makes me feel like we’re at prom.” And, shifting gears, he allowed as how the next song “American Money” was about strippers. Set-ender “Electric Love,” along with “Seeing Stars” and “Past Lives,” suggest BØRNS have enough singles to hang around a while. Just don’t try that falsetto at home.