Barlow Live Show Review and Video

Article by Emma Cave
Filmed by Arthur Mueller and Ben Hoover
Audio by Evan Lawrence
This review is brought to you by

For whatever reason, spring semester seems to be flying by at the speed of light. While 2 months ago, I found myself praying that the second half of my credit heavy freshman year would go by quickly, I now find myself praying that it slows down enough for me to enjoy the last few months before I go and get all nostalgic. That being said, you can’t help but feel the collective excitement for spring break, a mere one week away from enjoyment. Whether you’re flying halfway ‘round the globe or laying in your bed for 7 days straight, the pure anticipation of a stress-free week with warm weather and all has me somewhat blissful amongst all the pre-break cramming professors love to lay on students.

Add that to Ethan Oliva’s emphatic vocals and the complements of dreamy guitar and you have a song that is pretty much guaranteed to be blared out the windows of my sister’s VW.

Between the hours of memorization and writing- induced hand cramps, I think of my own spring break plans, a flight down to Georgia to visit my sister where well meet up to drive to New Orleans for the remainder of the week. Amongst the many road trips my sister and I have taken over the past few years, an absolute necessity for us has always been 3 things: a Costco size tub of peanut butter filled pretzels, a GPS, and a playlist to last us through the drive. Scouring for songs to contribute to our playlist, I come across Barlow, a local Pittsburgh band that I get the feeling will have a lot of play time in our 8 hour drive. What keeps me so entranced by their music, whether it be “False Eye” or a slightly more upbeat but just as dreamy “You Have to See It”, is the addictive and captivating baseline. Add that to Ethan Oliva’s emphatic vocals and the complements of dreamy guitar and you have a song that is pretty much guaranteed to be blared out the windows of my sister’s VW. Be it on the stained carpet of your bedroom or the stuffy seats of an airplane, Barlow provides the perfect tunes to soundtrack your Spring Break.

Barlow’s full set can be found below.

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You can tune in for WPTS Live Show every Wednesday night at 9:00 on www.wptsradio.org, RadioFX, or 92.1FM Pittsburgh.

You can listen to Barlow on Spotify and bandcamp.