Love Spells Casts His Magic on Seattle

Love Spells was in town for his Love Is The Law tour stop at Barboza. The opener for the sold-out show, Orca, is a dream pop duo from San Antonio, Texas, made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Mylena and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist Daniel Galloway. The main act, Love Spells, who is the solo project of Sir Taegen C’aion Harris, who hails from Houston, Texas, has an indie rock and dream pop sound.

Orca has an ethereal sound, with lead vocalist Mylena taking the stage. Her voice has a soft and wispy quality that can soothe you to sleep like a lullaby, it reminds me of the artist Raveena. During their performance, it felt like she floated around the stage as she moved toward the audience and swayed back and forth to the music. The band’s performance and energy were very relaxed, which matched the vibe of their music perfectly. This was my first time hearing this band, so you can imagine my surprise, and the crowds, for that matter, when drummer Daniel Galloway started singing during their song “Natural.” The song opens with Mylena as usual, but then Daniel swoops in, and they go back and forth in a duet.

There was an audible reaction from the crowd when he took the mic and started singing and drumming at the same time. He is a great singer in his own right, so it makes sense for him to sing on some of the songs. There has been a surge of drummers who can sing and drum at the same time, such as Momoko Gill and Anderson .Paak, you can now add Daniel to that list of performers. If you were lucky enough to get a ticket to the Love Spells show, please do yourself a favor and do not skip out on the opener; they will be more than worth your time.

Love Spells had been growing in popularity fast even before he released his debut album, Love Is The Law. Tickets for his show immediately sold out when they were released to the public, and resale prices were astronomical, anywhere from $200 to around $400. It makes complete sense why resale prices for his shows are so high because this man is on a generational run. The venues he booked for his tour do not match how popular he has become with the release of his debut album. This is the sweet spot: an artist books a tour at smaller venues and then starts blowing up in popularity before it begins, so fans get to see their favorite artist in a venue that does not match the level of their talent and popularity, which gives the audience a rare experience. Being able to see Love Spells in such an intimate venue at this point in his career felt like getting away with murder. It was not something I took for granted because he will NEVER perform in a small venue again after this tour, so be prepared to see him perform somewhere like the Paramount next time around.

Before the show, Love Spells could be seen chilling incognito at the bar while having a drink. He played a trick on fans, saying that he wasn’t the artist Love Spells. If you’ve only heard his music and never seen his face, it makes sense why you wouldn’t be able to tell it was him. He purposely sings in a feminine voice to sound like a white woman, and it works. It is not a gimmick or something shallow. In an interview with andfriends.nyc, he mentions, “I literally started singing like that because I wanted to sound like a female artist. I wanted to sound like a woman. I was like, dude…I want to sound like Clairo on this one song. So delicate and soft, I want it to sound like a lullaby.” And my goodness, he was successful in doing that. When I first stumbled upon his music, I was surprised by how quickly I became obsessed with it, and then even more surprised to find out that he is a black man from Houston, Texas.

When Love Spells took the stage, I’m sure it was some audience members’ first time learning that he was a black man. After opening with his first song, “Lovers Only,” he came clean about the prank he had played on the audience and had a good laugh about it. Love Spells is someone who loves to perform and leaves his heart and soul on the stage, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to have fun. I say this with the utmost respect for him, but he is the most unserious artist I have ever seen perform. That doesn’t mean he is not a good performer, in fact, it is quite the opposite. This was the best concert I have ever been to in my life, and I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my time. If you’ve seen any of his Instagram videos, you know this man loves to dance. During his song “Don’t Touch,” he brought a woman onstage and danced around and with her, just like he does in the music video. It was a fun way to interact with the audience and help them connect with the song on a different level.

The chemistry between him and his band was unlike anything I have ever seen before, they play off one another so well. During the moments between songs, when he talked to the audience, the band would play a little jingle whenever he finished speaking. My favorite moment between them was when he compared the night to going to church, and they immediately turned into a worship band and played a jingle reminiscent of my childhood Sundays. When the jingle started, he danced around the stage like one of those sensationalized worship leaders. Before starting a cover of Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over,” he joked that he was going to cover Young Thug. He briefly started mumbling the famously misinterpreted lyrics, “horses don’t stop, they keep going,” in direct reference to Young Thug’s hit song “Digits.” It was pretty cool, especially when his band joined in on the joke by playing the beat, and it sounded pretty good. I wouldn’t have been mad if that had been the actual cover he performed. While performing the Kravitz cover, he wowed the crowd with his impressive vocal range, demonstrating that the man can actually sing and has the talent for it. From beatboxing during one of his sad songs to prancing around the stage with a phallic-looking horse he named Bishop during the Western-inspired song “LOVE IS THE LAW,” you will be entertained and have a good time at his show.

From the sound of his music, you can tell that he is from Texas, and he stays true to his roots with haunting Western guitar strumming in the foreground of songs like his hit “Keep It To Yourself.” During that song, he surprised the crowd by demonstrating even more of his vocal range, hitting impressive high notes that were not present in the recorded version. Usually, an artist sounds better recorded than live, but the same cannot be said about Love Spells and his performance. I can honestly say that this man sounds better live than he does recorded. Love Spells exudes an effortlessly cool presence while also being a little dorky, with his friendly and jokey demeanor.

He ended his performance with the encore song “I Wish I Didn’t Love You.” After the song was over, he told the sound engineer to put on “FF” by Troye Sivan and vibed out with the audience because he loves it so much. After that, he stayed around, took pictures with fans, had conversations with them, and signed things for them.

If you were not able to get tickets for the Love Is Law tour, then I truly feel sorry for you because this is going to be the last time we see him in an intimate venue. Just like Clairo, he will soon be selling out theaters.