One thing I never thought I’d find myself saying about any live performance is that yes, it is possible to use too much reverb. Particularly on vocals, and especially when the vocals in your band tend to take a passenger seat to the guitar and keyboards. Sadly, that was my overall impression of show on Monday night at the : too much reverb, which led to vocals lost beneath too much volume in the wrong places.
The Brooklyn-by-way-of-Florida band definitely has a pretty good thing going — at least on record — and it was obvious that they regularly weave compositions with influence from a pantheon of indie and post-punk heavy hitters — as well as a few early psychedelics. But they never seemed able to settle on a particular, cohesive blend. The set was a haphazard concoction of carnival music, catchy pop, noise and not-quite Phil Spector that far too often stepped on its own toes.
The opener “Sycamore Tree” from the new record “In Love With Oblivion” was a hash of keyboardist Kyle Forester’s Ray Manzarek pounding atop Andy Adler’s bass that just mashed into JB Townsend’s spaghetti-western guitar and formed a melodramatic aural tapioca. All of that drowned out Brad Hargettap usually interesting, Jim-Morrison-meets-Ian-Curtis vocals, leaving only a footprint of deep reverb on the mix.
The five piece did hit a poppy stride with “Silver Sun,” a tune that melded Stone Roses guitar and that omnipresent reverb with a little added jangle that almost lifted the sound out of the narrow well from which it seemed to emanate.
ٱԱ’s , — one of the two opening bands — showed that they’ve hit a plateau in their musical evolution (and that the venue wasn’t responsible for the Stilts’ poor sound) with a satisfying set that was mixed almost perfectly, and was played just as well. John Nichols’ ever-heavier guitar mastery added to their sound, and placed them on firmly equal ground with trending psychedelics like the Black Angels, if not a tad above. Itap good to see the group gaining momentum with their sound essentially still intact.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of ٱԱ’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
