From the Californian coast come this century’s answer to the Beach Boys

The calendar says September, the holiday is over, the leaves are starting to fall and the days are getting shorter, but for a few hours at Vega on Tuesday, the Californian indie-pop band Cayucas are bringing summer back.

The name Cayucas (pronounced ‘ky-yook-us’) is a homage to a sleepy little seaside town in San Luis Obispo County, California – a town that has barely changed over the last 50 years and is a far cry from the gentrified tourist traps parading showily down the nearby coastline. In the early 1960s, the surfing craze hit. According to frontman Zach Yudin, speaking to his label, there was one bar around that local kids congregated back then, which was “the site of helpless crushes and fights and games of pool – a place whose jukebox soundtracked innumerable teenage years as breezy summers rolled into mild winters and back around again”. The bar has since disappeared, but apparently the place still holds on tight to its propensity for dreamy, lazy, bonfire-lit nights worth getting moony-eyed about.

Not for nothing is the band named after this little surfer town on the Californian coast; their music is clearly inspired by the Californian sun, lapping waves and a laid-back way of life that evoke the Beach Boys and the sounds of the 1960s. It is the sound of nostalgic Californian summer days by the beach, but with a modern and humoristic perspective.

The man behind the project is Yudin, the lead singer and songwriter, but Cayucas also include Yudin’s twin brother Ben Yudin on bass, Banah Winn on keyboards, Casey Wojtalewicz on drums and Christian Koons on guitar. Zach Yudin, then a musician for nearly five years, posted his first song under the name Oregon Bike Trails at the beginning of 2011, but in 2012, Yudin expanded from a solo project to a band, changed the group’s name to Cayucas and signed with the American indie label Secretly Canadian. Last autumn their first single, ‘Swimsuit’, was released, and in February, the band went on tour with Ra Ra Riot.

Their debut album, Bigfoot, from April this year was produced by multi-artist Richard Swift and contains eight tracks of summer-pop and retro-feelings. The album is a short and sweet instant charmer, and the sound is relentlessly warm and tropical, with rickety high-pitched keys, light and breezy percussion, and calm, echoed vocals. All the songs are written by Zach Yudin by culling samples from eclectic mid-20th century sources such as the Animals and Harry Belafonte, piecing them together into a collage, and afterwards replacing the samples with original instrumentation resulting in a vaguely retro feel and a sound akin to that of Vampire Weekend.

The album generally received very good reviews with several critics remarking that, although not all eight tracks were standout tracks, the record did not contain any bad songs. The two most popular tunes from the album are the calypso-meets-indie of ‘Cayucos’ and the nostalgic ‘High School Lover’.

The concert at Ideal Bar on Tuesday is part of Cayucas’s first European tour and is a great opportunity to postpone the winter depression and listen to some catchy, easy-going tunes ready-made for summer beach trips, pool parties and barbecues.

 

Cayucas
Ideal Bar, Vega, Enghavevej 40, Cph V;
Tue 21:00;
Tickets: 92kr,
www.billetnet.dk




  • Cross-border moves on the rise in the Øresund region

    Cross-border moves on the rise in the Øresund region

    The number of relocations across the Øresund Region is rising. As highlighted by 2023 numbers, Sweden benefits from a growing interest, especially among younger generations.

  • Tunø: An island running out of time

    Tunø: An island running out of time

    The island of Tunø harbors a community of 74 adults and one child. There are no cars and only one connection to the rest of the world. Now, climate change threatens it

  • In conversation with Conrad Molden: The man behind the mic

    In conversation with Conrad Molden: The man behind the mic

    He’s tickled our funny bone with countless wisecracks and clever wordplay, and in the process, made Denmark feel a little more personable to many expats. An international import himself, funny man Conrad Molden has successfully carved out a niche for himself on the Danish stand-up scene, but it’s taken a solid 13 years, much trial and error, and heaps of Danglish

  • Here Comes The Sun…

    Here Comes The Sun…

    I escaped from Denmark this winter to the south of France, where I was convinced that the sunshine would inspire me to write this year’s Crazy Christmas comedy show.

  • Volunteer Night 2025: when volunteering rhymes with integrating

    Volunteer Night 2025: when volunteering rhymes with integrating

    On Wednesday, April 30, from 17:00 to 20:00, Studenterhuset will host Volunteer Night 2025, a free event organized by the organization International House Copenhagen, which goal is to ease the relocation process for newcomers in Denmark

  • The international who shaped Copenhagen

    The international who shaped Copenhagen

    Anna Maria Indrio is one of the most important architects in Denmark, having contributed to shaping Copenhagen into what it is today. Among her best-known projects are the extension of SMK and Arken, as well as the Natural History Museum and the Darwin Centre in London. She moved here 60 years ago, when “Copenhagen was gray and dormant. Predictions suggested it would become depopulated. But putting people at the center changed everything,” she said

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.