Sasquatch! Music Festival, Day 3: Hoops

Representing their hometown of Bloomington, Hoops took the Yeti stage early Sunday afternoon at the Sasquatch Music Festival. On their debut album Routines, the quartet (or quintet live, with touring guitarist) solidify the dream-pop sound they began developing on their self-released cassettes and last year's self-titled EP. It's funny to think the project began as the one-man band of Drew Auscherman since they now seem to function as a democracy, not a dictatorship. Auscherman shares the frontman role with both keyboardist Keagan Beresford and bassist Kevin Krauter, taking turns on lead vocal throughout the set.

With that said, Hoops clearly seems to remain Auscherman's baby as he seemed absolutely elated to be on stage and to see people in the audience. His huge smile was even brighter than the sun that was baking the crowd at 80+ degrees. He waved and blew kisses. And even when he wasn't on vocals, he was mouthing the lyrics to himself off mic. He seemed positively giddy.

The set list revolved primarily around the new LP, which just came out on May 5th. "These are brand new songs from our brand new album," Krauter told the crowd. "If you're interested, just Google it." The jangly, shimmery guitars reminded me of one-time Seattle band Seapony (RIP), but with guy vocals. The group cite '80s pop groups like Prefab Sprout and Cleaners from Venus as influences, but watching Auscherman wail on lead guitar, I was reminded of more mainstream '80s music. Like, Rick Springfield. If Rick Springfield signed to Captured Tracks, you'd have Hoops.

As the set came to a close, Auscherman burped a "thank you" into the mic (ew, dude), and said "We're gonna do some more, sorry." With songs as enjoyable as these, no apology necessary. Except for that burp.