Los Angeles-based dream pop trio LANY has bona fide glamour.
It’s in the form of dreamy front man Paul Klein, who commanded the stage during Sunday’s sold-out concert at the Fillmore, the first of two San Francisco gigs.
Wearing a tank topped by an oversized shirt (it came off during the show), black pants and shoes, and Michael Jackson-inspired white socks, the up-and-coming pop star looks every bit the professional model he is, having appeared in ads for Prada and Banana Republic. (His hair also went from flowing into a man bun during the course of the 90-minute show.)
Meanwhile, gossip sites are gaga over his romance with English model and hot singer-songwriter Dua Lipa of “New Rules” fame.
Still, as does every good boy band singer, he offers a down-to-earth appeal in performance; as he sold the band’s universally-themed, appealingly melodic, synth-infused love songs, he glad-handed, blew a kiss or two and looked straight into the audience of primarily adoring young women.
He played piano and guitar on a few tunes, too, keeping the crowd sated during the more melancholy, lovelorn numbers “13” and “Tampa” off LANY’s 2017 self-titled debut LP.
Credited with Klein for writing most of the tunes on the record, less flamboyant drummer Jake Goss and guitarist-keyboardist Les Priest (who did a bit of backup vocal) were there, too.
Established in 2014 in Nashville, and seasoned after opening for Troye Sivan and Halsey and hitting major festivals, including Outside Lands in 2016, LANY (an acronym for Los Angeles New York, pronounced lay-nee) came to the world’s attention with the self-released EP “Acronymns” and the streaming sensation “ILYSB,” which stands for “I love you so bad.”
It was the sentiment of Sunday’s manic Bay Area admirers, who knew the lyrics not just to the hits — the infectious, pulsing EP favorite “Where The Hell Are My Friends” and the new “Super Far” (with a rainbow-themed video) — but also the 2017 slower to-mid-tempo “Pancakes” and “Hericane.”
For this fan, the jangly “Yea, Babe, No Way” and disco-tinged “Good Girls” (with a romance-themed video connected to the story in the “ILYSB” video) represent the ultimate pop sound, the kind for all ages.
We’ll certainly be seeing these guys around town again.
