“It is a band, and it isn’t a band. It’s a solo thing, but it’s not a solo thing. It’s more of a conversation that I’m having with myself and with people.” Shane Lavers, a.k.a. Chanel Beads, continued his musical “conversation” alongside band members Maya McGrory and Zachary Paul at Durham’s Motorco Music Hall on October 11, 2026. NYC-based Chanel Beads’ first performance in Durham was accompanied by Car Culture and Horse Vision, two similarly ambient dreampop acts. Car Culture is the pseudonym for a new project by another NYC-based artist, Daniel Fisher, who is best known by the name Physical Therapy. After Car Culture, Horse Vision, an indie rock and digital pop duo from Stockholm, Sweden, performed the second opening set for Chanel Beads.
What could be described as mood lighting music, Daniel Fisher of Car Culture opened the concert with his original electronic, layered tracks and one mellow cover. Each song followed a similar ebb and flow between peaks of looped guitar with heavy bass and more stripped electronic melodies. Fisher’s songs were soundscapes that wonderfully mixed swayable ambiance and dancier basslines or a rare repeated deep vocal melody.
Following Car Culture came the blue-lit duo Horse Vision, who played their original songs, which often included high-pitched vocal melodies from their lead singer Johan Nilsson. Nilsson also highlighted his use of various samples, including Lady Gaga and t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said.”. The songs built up into loud, somewhat noisy climaxes which transitioned well from the more relaxed Car Culture to a more intense performance by Chanel Beads.
Playing a mixture of songs from Lavers’ 2024 release, Your Day Will Come, and his new 2026 album with the same name, Lavers drew from the energy roused by the opening acts and was welcomed by a chorus of screaming fans. The live versions of tracks specifically off the 2026 release of Your Day Will Come maintained their studio sound but with added energy and a more intense tone. Most songs featured halfway screamed, lyric-heavy vocals sung by both Lavers and Maya McGory simultaneously, along with electronic melodies, loud drums, guitar layering, an electric violin played by Zachary Paul, and even on occasion, an electronic wind instrument. Each song was a different mix of noisy yet dreamlike elements that gave the entire show the feeling of a spinning shoegaze kaleidoscope. What stood out was the outward emotion displayed by Lavers. It was obvious each song was deeply connected to his core being, and his expressiveness was mirrored in the audience; perhaps that is the essence of what he means by a conversation. The top streamed song off of Chanel Beads’ new album, “Song for the Messenger,” was a highlight and extremely well received by the audience. A personal favorite was also the somewhat more relaxed performance of “Idea June,” which served as a pleasant interlude between the rest of Chanel Beads’ more extreme tracks.
Car Culture, Horse Vision, and Chanel Beads performed a surrealist progression of electronic tracks with gauzy guitar melodies that no doubt appeared in the dreams of the audience as they fell asleep later that night.
