Review Summary: “Dying. Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well.”
I often find myself getting nervous when surrounded by a large group of people. It really does not even matter who they are too. But I especially lose it when they are a boisterous group of harsh unforgiving individuals with no volume knob. Due to this discrepancy in my life I sometimes ponder if I am agoraphobic? or perhaps I am nuts? or maybe I am the one who flew over the cuckoos nest? But that night I felt like I could repress my insecurities to go to that show. Most bands typically perform at eighteen or twenty one and up venues but not this band; they would play anywhere. Therefore I got in easily to the club after sitting in line for so long. Everyone in the room was talking but none of them were yelling, they were all murmuring to one another. This felt strange to me as many of these people looked like rambunctious teenagers who were just looking to start trouble. But my apprehensive thoughts on this subject dissipated as soon as the lights dimmed and like a colony of jeering bats they came alive in the dark.
Their voices were drowned out though by the howling of Justin’s guitar as the opening bar of Bionic whipped through the room. They had found the energy. The speed at which they played was not unlike that of typical hardcore, but this music was slightly more experimental in its approach and much harsher in its atmosphere that it was able to convey. So much that I was forced back to the wall due to how they sucked the life out of the room in the best way possible. The band members were intense as they played and one could feel every bit of emotion in their playing. Vern and Brandt made up a steady diet of rhythm that was also quite a tumultuous platform for Justin’s noisy guitar and self deprecating lyrics to be spewed over. Hearing this all happen was like reading “Because I could not stop for Death” for the length of the show as one felt as if they were going to die in that room of sweet and fury due to how powerful the music was but had no time to leave so death had come to them through the noise.
Quieter moments like Ld-50 and Lying at Best would provide time for me to absorb like a sponge all of the emotion being poured out of the band just for them to build up into harsh screams and rigid playing that would ring you out like a towel on the floor. I would lay there and watch as people were dancing about as if they were on fire from the sound waves but they loved every minute of it like I did. Although secluded from everyone who enjoyed the racket given off by this band like I did, I surprisingly never felt like Prufrock in the room instead I felt his emotions through the music. For it grasped me round the ears and trapped me inside of it as I listened to these young men play their hearts out to such a small audience. We all felt encapsulated and devout to the band though as they continued on through songs like Rubber Band Heart and the epic Love and Fear that kept the dark feel of the music assiduously inside of my mind. For them to be so young and articulate was amazing as they were true intellectuals in every sense of the word as they played their music so craftily and heartfelt that no one could surely be turned away from the sucking whirlpool of music provided for us.
Yet from behind the dark curtains provided for me by my hair it came to my mind that I was not to be one that would be chained up in Plato’s cave. I knew that from the moment I had dared listened to this band what they were and where I heard sounds like this before. Therefore from behind the shades I sadly had to wince about how the band’s sound had been greatly influenced by past bands (although this is not a terrible thing). For although it was indeed a unique take on the punk sound spewing from the speakers it was one that had been started long ago before the members of the band had even began playing music. Therefore despite the intensity and greatness of the music a derivative sound is one that can never be applauded with too much acclaim (except in almost all music critics eyes as they typically find mainstream bands who are almost always derivative of an underground band as critical darlings).
But as I left the show in an almost entirely different state of mind I found myself wondering about the future of this young band and why I felt so at peace in that room full of people. I felt as if I belonged and did not once have a nervous fit during the show. But now my thoughts pertained to how the band had definitely left an impression and regaled the small group of listeners. But I did not know if they have the potential to get off the fake train and think about some new plastic ideas for their ensuing career? For your entertainment I will tell you that this trio did of course after finding a more technical drummer in Sara Lund who would help evolve their sound from a somewhat undeveloped, yet unique punk sound to a band that sounded like almost nothing heard before it in their last studio album. When I got home I found myself continually contemplating about the potential found in that band, but I knew I would have to wait until the leaves would turn inside of me to see the future of what this band had to offer.
