Bumbershoot Look-in: STRFKR

Starfucker

Saturday at Bumbershoot is jubilant, yet exhausting. With great acts to take in at every turn, one feels a sense of urgency—the need to race between venues and fit in as many performances as possible. While two more days of the festival remain, it’s hard to reconcile with the idea of pacing oneself. Instead, the experience is one you feel you have to jump into with great verve.

After the sun sets, however, the pace of the events slows and it feels acceptable to take a breath while settling in for the last performances of the day. On Saturday night, many found themselves around Seattle Center’s International Fountain. Playing on the Fountain Lawn stage was STRFKR, the Portland-based outfit whose songs meld traditional pop song structures and eminently dance-able electronic elements.

STRFKR made their way through much of this year’s ‘Reptilian,’ a record drenched in warm beats that was released just in time for summer. Now a few months on with the warm season drawing to a close, the songs sounded as fun and fresh as ever. The set represented a fitting soundtrack for winding-down Saturday at Bumbershoot, the festival faithful experiencing a satisfying sense of communal fatigue.