North Carolina’s Megafaun took the stage with a geeky sense of bravado and whimsicality, as their opening number spilled out into a wispy jangle. Their harmonies confront you like a cloud that comes into your bedroom and sits in front of your face waiting for you to awake. Suffice to say, there is a quaintness in the group’s approach, with their smiling faces and familiar banter, that seems to go beyond our jaded L.A. standards. Megafuan wants you to share the experience, even walking out into the crowd during the end of one of their songs. There is something innately communal about these guys that one cannot escape.

Bowerbirds enter with a palpably different aura. If Megafuan is the hyperactive child of the family, then Bowerbirds is the introvert. Their lyrical output is deep and heartfelt, like two lovers who are comforted only by the fact that each other exist. Their music is slow and could perhaps resemble the wind as it brushes across your face. Theirs is music to sway to. This is perfectly exhibited on the song “Northern Lights,” where singer Phil Moore softy strums his guitar as he sweetly sings of love weighted upon the soul. A soft sonic brick opens up under the feet of his listeners, pulling them into the church of loneliness. His sound is pro-founded by his partner Beth Tacular’s fingers on the keys, serving as the perfect companion to his willowy-ness. On songs like “House of Diamonds,” along with “Chimes,” Tacular captivates us with her accordion, which takes on the role of a living entity, breathing on its own, laying the groundwork to construct a type of haunted jig, together with the tune of Moore’s voice. Each note follows you like a ghost, tunes that resonate with your entire being, replaying in your soul as you slowly rock yourself into a cold, dead sleep.

—Gab Chabran