Courtesy of Captured Tracks.

With the ping pong tables pushed aside and the aroma of their famous “smoky‰” mushroom, mozzarella, bacon, and onion pizza permeating throughout the room, Comet Ping Pong welcomed local indie-pop band The Sea Life and alternative rock band Nice Breeze to open for Captured Tracks artist Juan Wauters on their modest stage last Sunday night. 

The stage was set up with an American flag on the left side and a yellow mustard banner that read “Locusts and Wild Honey‰” on the right. There were light bulbs duct taped throughout the stage, sporadically flickering on and off. Wauters walked in with a wine-stained sweatshirt, a cowboy tie, white high-top Converse sneakers, and a big toothy grin. This was not Wauters‰’ first time in D.C. He played at the Rock & Roll Hotel with Crystal Stilts and Craft Spells back in June, and you could see that with this experience he exuded confidence.

The first half of the show (and perhaps the more engaging) was the acoustic set, with Wauters serenading the crowd with songs such as “Water‰” off of his 2014 album N.A.P. North American Poetry. Wauters‰’ guitar read “arranged marriage, deranged murder‰” as he crooned the small crowd with lyrics that that would be fitting for the Juno soundtrack. His melodramatic and goofy moves on the stage along with his endearing “okay‰” after every song (in his Uruguayan accent) made him very likeable. The second half of the show featured the rest of the band and Wauters on the keyboard, demonstrating how musically diverse he really is.

Wauters, returning to the acoustic guitar, played an encore of three songs, including songs requested by the audience such as “Escucho Mucho‰” and “Woke Up Feeling Like Sleeping.‰” Wauters dedicated the third song, “Let Clock Work,‰” to his friend, selecting a song from his former band The Beets.

The New York Observer called Wauters “the next big singer-songwriter…a hipster prince, [and an] indie visionary‰” after his North American Poetry album. “She might get shot‰” and other songs that Wauters played off his new album Who Me? that is to be released this upcoming May, prove that this statement continues to be true.