SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN
Washed Out, Bi Nuu, 9pm
There was a time when skipping out on a college education to pursue music was looked down upon, as it was seen as foregoing stability in order to chase what many would label a pipe dream. But today, with a stagnant job market and student loan collections knocking on the doors of American university graduates, a walk down the musical path doesn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore.
For Ernest Greene, the man behind chillwave project Washed Out, that is exactly what happened, although it wasn’t necessarily by choice. In the late 90s, after obtaining a Master of Library and Information Science, Greene couldn’t find work, and instead turned to music, which proved more promising and lucrative than his degree did. In 2011, he signed to Sub Pop, and proceeded the release two full-lengths, the most recent of which, Paracosm, came out in August.
Like 2011′s Within and Without, the album features nine tracks and clocks in at around 40 minutes. The music is hardly new territory for Greene; in fact, he seems pretty stylistically set in his ways, and completely OK with that. But the songs are easily accessible and comfortable, the kind of music that doesn’t necessarily require that you think, but rather simply allows you to be. Natalye Childress
Bi Nuu, Im Schlesischen Tor, 10997 Berlin; 030 69 56 68 40; U: Schlesisches Tor; admission: €15.