The Naked and Famous with Unknown Mortal Orchestra
The Echoplex
Friday and Saturday, April 8-9

After busing it the length of Sunset Boulevard through Silver Lake and finally to Echo Park for an hour and a half through traffic, I was ready to dance.

However, even after arriving on time to an already on-the-late-side 8:30 p.m. show at the Echoplex, bouncers informed our shivering alley crowd that alas, the opener – Unknown Mortal Orchestra – had just arrived. Unrehearsed.

Now, I wouldn’t mind waiting an additional half hour for fashionable lateness if Unknown Mortal Orchestra was, well, a little more than unknown.

When the trio of New Zealanders by way of Oregon finally took the stage, they offered musical skill but disjointed sound. Front man Ruban Nielson’s vocals were muffled at best and lost in drowning jams that skirted indecisively between echoed guitar riffs and Ramones-esque punk pop. However, solid drumming offered some distinguishing beats between songs that otherwise muddled from one to the next.

However, I held out hope for headliner The Naked and Famous. The Auckland, New Zealand, electro pop rock quintet has already earned success at home and in the U.K. More recently, the band earned airtime and played a live performance at Los Angeles radio station 98.7 FM’s studio just the day before playing for the Echoplex.

So I was surprised to see the band take the stage sullenly, singing with eyes closed for nearly four songs before even acknowledging the audience. Contradicting an otherwise upbeat sound, I was convinced the band had the most anti-social stage presence I’d ever seen. But I was at least half wrong, as the band warmed up gradually with each song. And when lead singer Alisa Xayalith finally addressed the audience with her endearing accent over halfway through the set, she proved charmingly sweet beneath an otherwise solemn exterior.

Singles “Punching in a Dream” and “Young Blood,” which echo electro choruses in the vein of Passion Pit and MGMT, were the most memorable standouts – an opinion a fellow head-banging guest to my right also fervently expressed in between cheering, “Yes, Kiwis!” Other songs blended together in between synthy keyboard and too-hushed vocals.

In contrast to its name, The Naked and Famous’ demure attitude didn’t seem to deter the crowd’s enthusiasm, as many sang along lyric for lyric. But the band’s largely awkward stage presence lacked chemistry and visibly hindered the members’ performance, which couldn’t help but appear disconnected.