Live at Bumbershoot 2014, Day 2: San Fermin

When recording, San Fermin is the creative project of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, a Brooklyn-based composer who began shifting away from classical arrangements to pop ones towards the end of his college years. On tour, San Fermin is an eight-musician tour de force that brings those compositions to life. Written in six weeks in a studio on the Alberta/British Columbia border, San Fermin is an ambitious debut, outfitting Ludwig-Leone's arrangements with characters and a narrative that touches on youth, unrequited love, and nostalgia across its 55 minutes. Led by Ludwig-Leone on the keyboards and fronted by singers Allen Tate and Charlene Kaye (who takes over parts originally recorded by Lucius' Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig), San Fermin's live incarnation has been touring behind the project's debut full-length for nearly a year, covering both Europe and North America as one of the live circuit's most promising newcomers.San Fermin is an ambitious debut, and in the Bumbershoot Music Lounge, the seven musicians that perform it live vibrantly brought Ludwig-Leone's concept album to life with a theatrical flair that matched their musical skill. Led by singers Charlene Kaye and Allen Tate, who split vocals nearly evenly, the band started with album-opener "Renaissance!", and continued with an equally as commanding "Crueler Kind". Ludwig-Leone's orchestrated touches are what set San Fermin apart from so many other indie acts, but the more rock-oriented elements - especially the moments where drummer Mike Hanf Tyler McDiarmid and guitarist Mike Hanf took the lead – worked just as well. Closing with "The Count", which contained more than a few impressive, turn-on-a-dime percussive sections, the band spent their set showing off every element of their membership, which, considering the solitary nature of San Fermin's composition, is a feat unto itself.