There was a time when it felt like I lived in The Deaf Institute, I was here that often. Over the last couple of years though, it’s dropped off my gig calendar. Bands I’ve been watching just haven’t been playing here, which is a real shame, it’s a great venue. So a big thank you to A Place To Bury Strangers for choosing here tonight. I’ve been itching to see this NY trio since I missed them at Wide Awake last summer and I’m instantly proved right for being excited. I’ll confess to still feeling quite new to them though, so I’ll forgo song titles for two reasons. The first being they’re into double figures on albums so there’s a big pot to pick from and secondly, this for me is a band that’s all about how they make you feel. Labels are redundant. That’s because… and you may have guessed this from their name, we’re in dark distorted ear spliting shoegaze flecked post-punk territory. The echo-laden vocals are pure goth. They do get a bit lost in the live sound, but it still works. The drums are set to eleventy stupid and get absolutely pulverised by Sandra with her bleach blonde dreads flying around in sync. They’re intense and seriously loud. Not hitting Mogwai or SunnO))) levels but they’re not far off. The bass vibrates beautifully above the drums while singer Oliver conjures vast walls of noise from half a guitar, the lower body apparently not surviving a previous assault. Dressed all black, bathed in smoke and strobe lights, they look as deadly as they sound. They’re like JAMC with the accelerator jammed. Theres a constant wall of feedback looping through the speakers as the single guitar appears to multiply over and over building deeper textures. It’s hard to take your eyes off Sandra, she’s getting a proper workout behind the kit and boy does she give it some. Despite all the menace she’s creating she’s all smiles, clearly in her element. The pair in front are going toe to toe with her and the result is pretty phenomenal. You may think you know a band, but this is definitely a case of being caught totally off guard with them live. Speaking of being caught off guard, they vanish from the stage and seconds later pop up next to me in the middle of the floor. A single drum, bass and Oliver welding a box of wires and switches that kicks out Ministry levels of noise. They do this not for one song but several, it’s like the most brilliant art rock noise installation I’ve ever witnessed. Back on stage, they blast through some ferocious punk, before Sandra hits the front of the stage ditching the analogue drums to go electric as they twist into a chaotic industrial maelstrom. Scraping strobe lights downs the neck of battered guitars. Soaring codas that threaten to swallow the room whole. It’s more than a gig, it’s mind penetrating experience and I come away feeling blindsided in the best possible way. What a band! I’m stunned.
Commenti