Video: Local Natives, ‘Cafe Amarillo’

Kevin Bronson on March 7th, 2019

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When they’re firing on all cylinders, few bands do romance, and the yearning for it, better than Local Natives. The Los Angeles quintet’s new song “Cafe Amarillo” will make you want to grab your objet d’affection and go on a road trip — or hurry home from one if you’re out there alone.

The song, released today, is the follow-up to Local Natives’ third album, “Sunlit Youth,” released in the fall of 2016, and two one-off singles released in 2017. While “Sunlit Youth” experimented with the band’s polyrhythmic folk-cum-indie-rock formula, “Cafe Amarillo” carries a tint of soul, especially in its wandering bass line and value-added harmonies. The dreamy vocal melody features Kelsey Ayer at the front. “I long for when / the sun was in our eyes,” he sings in the outro.

The video for the song, which features the band on a trip from L.A. to the desert, was directed by Van Alpert.

There is no announcement yet of a new album, though they have been finishing one up. Just past the 10-year anniversary of Local Natives’ formation, the band — Ayer, Taylor Rice, Ryan Hahn, Matt Frazier and Nik Ewing — recently announced a 29-date “Spiral Choir Tour,” with two Southern California dates in June.

||| Watch: The video for “Cafe Amarillo”