From the second they stepped on stage at Wonderfront Competition in San Diego final weekend, it was clear that Porcelain had been particular: charismatic, lighthearted; San Diego surfer boys one second, enjoying a number of competition slots the subsequent.
Clad in Marvel Bread racing fits and tossing winks to the gang, they radiated an earnest sort of cool; the type that doesn’t strive too onerous, and doesn’t must.
However they had been additionally bizarre—in one of the best ways. A patchwork of ages and energies, they got here off unpolished and unapologetic. Their handful of singles echo that very same experimental spirit: lo-fi sound high quality, stylistic detours, the occasional out-of-tune guitar. But, their stay set was nothing in need of inspiring.
Pictures by Travis Suttle
There’s one thing oddly comforting about Porcelain. They really feel like suburban youngsters raised on rock and jazz, who beloved it sufficient to play it however by no means felt beholden to its guidelines. Their imperfections aren’t liabilities—they’re a part of the attraction. Porcelain channels the laid-back ethos of San Diego’s guitar-driven scene with a looseness that borders on defiance, an indie-rock band each in on the joke and completely critical in regards to the music.
After their set, I caught up with Porcelain backstage and requested a couple of questions—had they been enjoying music collectively their entire lives?
Surprisingly, most of them hadn’t even picked up devices till a couple of years in the past. The band solely got here collectively two years again and simply began writing songs from there.
“We now have 9 songs within the works,” they shouted in overlapping fragments after I requested a couple of potential album.
“We would like our first album to really feel like a cohesive physique of labor,” lead singer Oliver Tucher defined. “So we’re nonetheless experimenting with mixers, and with recording stuff. Proper now we’re recording at dwelling. As soon as we lock within the sound and area, then we’ll put out the album.”
Tucher is unmistakably the star of the present. His vocal energy and tone are what set Porcelain other than the ocean of indie bands that usually blur collectively in a haze of surf city aesthetics and ironic detachment.
If Porcelain leans into that power—crafting songs that not solely highlight Tucher’s voice however embrace a extra deliberate manufacturing type—they may transcend the style’s tendency to favor texture over readability, aesthetic over emotional weight.
In a approach, the title Porcelain feels becoming. There’s a sure fragility to what they’re doing—not in a approach that implies weak point, however within the sense that it’s uncooked, delicate, nonetheless taking form. They haven’t hardened but, and that’s a part of the attraction.
If they’ll form that vulnerability into intention—refining their sound with out dropping their looseness—it’s not onerous to think about them ascending to the ranks of bands like Peach Pit, and even brushing up in opposition to Vampire Weekend. For now, it’ll be some time.
