Beach House were the first band on - perhaps the first gig i've been to where I have only heard the support band's music. I had listened to their (only) album several times and had quite enjoyed it but I was curious as to how they would recreate the sound on the album live with only two members, as the album was multi-layered. The answer to my question was quickly answered when the band plunged straight into 'Apple Orchard' after the 4 beat count-in by Victoria, the singer and keyboardist. Despite having only guitar, keyboard and vocals, they managed to create a thick texture through a dense organ sound on the keyboard and lots of reverb on guitar and vocals. They also had the help of a sampler, controlled by the guitarist Alex Scally, which had pre-recorded drum beats to most, if not all the songs they played. It was also hooked up to a mixer so that he could alter the EQ. Although this should have made their performance dull and lifeless, it had the opposite effect (probably because they have such few members) and subtly gave the songs a sense of mood. After almost an hour of music, they left the stage to the second band of the night: Arbouretum.
[Rating: 4/5]
The most memorable trait of Arbouretum's (besides the bassist's beard) after the show was also the one that I noticed first; the incredible tone of the two guitarists, both clean and dirt guitars. This gave the overall sound a real powerful edge but also made it easier on the ears; if it weren't for the great tone, the distorted open chords played by lead singer/guitarist Dave Heumann could have ruined the show with no trouble at all. Their riffs were catchy and deliberately repetitive, with a barrage of guitar solos in every song, usually over the same single riff. What was lacking in the progression of the music however, was made up for in other areas such as dynamics and complexity of the music with the individual instrumental parts combined. The guitar solos were mildly interesting on their own but the dual guitar solos and chords played in different positions made the music more interesting harmonically, but also made it more fun to watch. They were also fairly energetic, with the bassist being the only exception. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough variation in their songs to keep me fully interested for the full hour and left me with no choice but to wish the concert would be over by the time they got to the needless noise rock inspired ending.
[Rating: 3.5/5]
1 comment:
Nicely said :D I agree with nearly all of what you said about Arbouretum, you managed to hit the nail on the head in terms of what they... "did wrong". Eugh, that sounds horrible. But yeah, props :D
You forgot to rate Beach House's jokes though :p
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