October 2, 2012
The Waldorf Hotel
Vancouver, British Columbia
There
are two primary ways to make interesting music: by having a completely original
sound incomparable to anything that has previously existed or by
blending pre-existing styles in ways never (or at least seldom) heard before. Though I had never heard of the Vancouver-based Mirror Lake
prior to the show, they immediately impressed me as a case of the
latter.
Right away, Mirror Lake captivated me with their brooding Turn on the Bright Lights-era
Interpol hooks and similar steady builds and tremolos. Mirror Lake's
pounding bass, riddling the audience's ears like rounds from a Gatling
gun in tandem with drum-work brimming with fills, could have emanated
from Carlos D. and Sam Fogarino themselves, if the audience didn't know
better. "All right, so Mirror Lake's a really tight post-punk group.
Sweet," I thought. But then, lapping up like agitated waves from below
the surface of post-punk rhythms and tempos, came lashes of psychedelic
keys and dual guitars. Mirror Lake was the first band I ever heard that blended post-punk and psych or at least the first to have done so with so much skill that I
actually noticed.
As the next band, Seattle's Low Hums,
indicated, the night was only about to become even more psychedelic. On
record, Low Hums often hint at Swans-style post-rock; at times, Michael
Gira himself even seems to possess lead-singer Jonas Haskins, albeit at
Gira's tamest. But although the pastoral psych quartet did not take
long to break into a bluegrass-jam with banjo, shaker and lap steel, Low
Hums were able to just as quickly turn around and conjure a Judgment
Day-ominous riff with as much menacing, slow-brew suspense as any
doom-psych band. Their third-last song in particular, with several false
disintegrations in the forms of droning Brian Jonestown Massacre-like
interludes, could have been dubbed space-rock, as it rocketed me into a
different galaxy. Following that cosmic experience was another song that
could have fit seamlessly amongst the BJM's oeuvre, this one alongside
their catchier, Matt Hollywood-penned hits.
The
psychedelic attack peaked with San Francisco's Six Organs of Admittance,
the solo project of Comets on Fire guitarist Ben Chasny. Backed by a
three-piece band, anyone who had heard Six Organs' latest album Ascent
probably knew why Chasny enlisted the extra muscle. I, however, was not
one of those people. I had known Six Organs of Admittance for delicate, introverted neo-folk, so when the first sounds that erupted
from the stage with a ferociousness that could have blown the
(faux-?)bamboo finish off of the walls, I was more than taken aback. It
was difficult to believe that the music with which I was familiar -
which I had expected - was borne of the same creature that was
attacking every part of his guitar with Palaeolithic savagery right
before my eyes. But observe Chasny closely, and one would have seen that
his furious attack was merely a veneer - that he was, in fact,
dissecting his guitar as precisely as a surgeon manoeuvres its knife.
The
only serene moment of Six Organs of Admittance came during their only
encore, Chasny's sole unaccompanied performance of the night. I wish I
knew the name of the song, because it was the most pleasant way to close
the show, aside from my successful acquisition of their set list.
With
a surprise as good as Six Organs of Admittance at the Waldorf, it was a
good thing I did not remember until at least more than halfway through
their set that my friend, with whom I had attended the show, described Ascent
some weeks back as very much a hard rock record. She wasn't kidding. The crispness of Chasny's playing was ultimately key in the
indelible impression Six Organs left on me, his guitar-work sharp
amongst the frenzy of every other instrument. If more performers can learn a
lesson from Six Organs of Admittance in this respect, I would remember far more shows for the music itself rather than merely their volume and muddled sloppiness.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Beasts Bellow Or Howling Hell Blues: Six Organs of Admittance with Low Hums and Mirror Lake at the Waldorf Hotel
Labels:
Live review,
low hums,
mirror lake,
six organs of admittance
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment