Death Cab For Cutie & Odesza Present ‘Double Major’

Editor’s note – this blog focuses on electronic dance music artists as the event had other genre of music

Bellingham, Washington is a beautiful college town with a population of about 90K but importantly, it is also the home of both EDM and alternative rock legends Odesza and Death Cab For Cutie. Both of these musical entities came home to play on behalf of Western Washington University’s Alumni Association Scholarship Endowment as this event sold out in just under 48 hours, letting these artists know that fans were showing their support. 

The Bellingham Civic Stadium has only been home to halftime shows for football games which made this a historical event that was produced when Death Cab and Odesza ran into each other in California and discussed their Bellingham ties only 4 months before the decided date. The lineup ended up being a mix of eclectic sounds from Bellingham’s own punk rock band, LipStitch, Rhythm and Synth Toronto DJ, Robotaki, Seattle’s up and coming genre bending DJ “Chong The Nomad”,and of course headlined by Death Cab and Odesza themselves. This event showed that even those who did not score tickets knew that this would be a one of a kind experience.

Chong the Nomad played an interesting set of some trap with noises you would hear from vintage toys. She kept the crowd amazed from the immediate start as she was able to use all of her talents to wow us; jamming out on her ukulele as she mixed her music and danced with the crowd. Her energy was so high that you couldn’t help but laugh at how whacky she was. I’ve always had high standards for female DJs as they never really fail to bring their 100%, but Chong the Nomad took this expectation higher even if you didn’t enjoy her distinctive sound, you wouldn’t be able to deny that her music isn’t the only quirky perk she brings to stage.

Odesza took some times to setup, but when they finally came on, they started with their ‘Moment Apart’ album which was the second time I saw this intro, however this time there were dark synth beats that kept emanating as it continued. Live instruments slowly bled into the beat of the song, live horns blared as Odesza finally walked on stage.

“Bellingham how are you feeling?!?”, exclaiming as they continued to follow the strum pattern for ‘Bloom’ which then lights burst toward the stage and revealed a line of snare drummers in the front and continued to intensify the buildup of the song.

“Bellingham it is good to be home! We love you all so much and tonight is going to be a lot of fun! Thank you!” 

The set consisted of ‘All We Need’ Ft. Shy Girls which was something the crowd needed and continuing on playing favorites like ‘Say My Name’ Ft. Zyra and ‘Higher Ground’ Ft. Naomi Wild on stage giving her beautiful live vocals.

Everything about the set felt perfect and more unique to the venue than any other show I’ve seen before. What struck me the most were some new songs which I would assume are going to be on their next album/EP/project. Theses new songs felt different from anything they released before but still sticking to their distinct style. It felt like a mix between modern dark wave, 90’s grunge funk and the vocal echoes that Odesza have essentially trademarked at this point. I’ve never been more excited for the release of new Odesza but dark wave has been my preferred genre for a while.  

Both Death Cab and Odesza had taken time to produce an event and give back to the student scholarships in their hometown.  And lastly in light of recent events pertaining to abortions, organization such as Yellowhammerfund, Plannedparenthood and ACLU were commemorated on screen as the entire crowd cheered together for the liberating support of women’s rights, and one of the best events ever held in Washington State. 

Everyone who attended the event won’t be able to forget one of the best nights of their lives, and one of the biggest nights of Bellingham’s history. 

-Jeffrey Davis