Vines played Berlin Under A

Celebrating the release of her debut album, Vines played at intimate set at Berlin Under A.

Last week, Cassie Wieland released her debut full-length album as Vines and she celebrated with a record release party at Manhattan's Berlin Under A at the intersection Alphabet City and the East Village. Backed by a violinist and an percussionist on electric drums, Wieland slowly brought her work to life with a steady sense of timing and purpose. Long, droning rushes of synthesizer created a stirring presence that filled the room as the lush walls of sound poured out from the stage. The strings added more texture to the ambient tunes and when the booming drums kicked in, the full realization of Wieland's sound felt complete. Heavy ambient pieces with ultra processed vocals created a mesmerizing experience that swelled with a strong sense of ease where every note felt detailed and deliberate. Swirling up something like the vocals of Imogen Heap with the moving, ethereal tones of Grouper, Vines delivers a dream-like soundscape that is ready to teleport you to the cosmos. Standout early single "Evicted" sounded massive and moved at a glacial pace, allowing the track to slowly overtake the room with its rich elegant sense of time suspension, giving the impression that everything is floating ever so gently, sweeping you off your feet with the utmost care and wrapping you up in a blanket of pure euphoria. A song of celestial proportions and while stunning on record, hearing it live felt like hearing it in a whole new way. Standing poised and ever so confident, Weiland delivered on the album's majestic, sweeping tones and created something awe-inspiring and magical. Drenched reverb billowed from the stage for the duration of the show and Wieland's voice sounded like it was being filtered through a cloud, giving off a comforting sense of divinity and purity. At a quick run time, the show never dragged on or felt stalled, something that can happen during ambient performances, and it's clear that Wieland has found the sweet spot of creating something engaging and mystical without becoming stale or placid. Even in such a small space, Vines created something that felt expansive and cinematic, something massive in scale and sound, creating a state of mind that one could get lost in, seemingly forever. That's not something I'd mind.