In February of 2016, Unknown Mortal Orchestra graced the stage of the Republic, and the crowd was immersed into a fun and picturesque world that seemed straight out of The Matrix. Flash-forward a couple years, and the band returns to the Republic, pretty much picking up where they left off. This encore of sorts came across even better than the opening act, with their new album, Sex & Food, composing almost half their set.
The band is, at heart, a studio band—nothing faulting their live shows—as there are a lot of bells and whistles that go into their albums, but are often hard to duplicate live. Sex & Food could have easily fallen into this trap, but the band did a spectacular job of bringing all those layers to light in their set.
When I saw the band back in 2016, I was left think, "Well, what's next?" Their set at the Republic, this time around, answered that question and more while still leaving me eager to discover where their musical journey will take them next.
