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| Blouse |
I went to see Bear In Heaven and Blouse the other night at Brighton Music Hall in Allson. Both bands are bands that were good at being bands. I reviewed the music that I saw with words, which is an easy thing to do because the words make sounds and it's like you can hear the music through the words. Check out the words below, and a couple videos, and make sure to always read the Boston Globe music section because they are good at words about music over there.
Having never seen the Brooklyn trio Bear In Heaven in a live setting before, one might reasonably have expected their show at Brighton Music Hall on Thursday night to have been a more contemplative affair. That’s particularly true considering the sounds on their 2009 breakout album, “Beast Rest Forth Mouth,’’ by and large a dream-space of heady synth enigmas.
On the contrary, the band created an impromptu dance club setting, with an extraordinarily visceral onslaught of pounding kick drums and distorted bass lines that had much of the room, and frontman Jon Philpot in particular, dancing in earnest (albeit in the locked-elbow indie-boy style).
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| Bear In Heaven via my shitty camera |
Newer songs from their recently released “I Love You, It’s Cool’’ set the party tone. “The Reflection of You,’’ with its New Order-esque synth bass and heavily effected tom rolls, planted the band’s flag squarely in a 1980s new wave terroir, while “Noon Moon’’ took a more sinister turn, with Philpot reeling off a series of forlorn images in his reedy, staccato inflections.
The exceptionally busy drummer Joe Stickney performed a clinic on his hybrid kit, although leaning back on occasion may have allowed the melodies to breathe more, particularly on “Sinful Nature,’’ which called to mind The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now’’ in its chord changes, bass line, and guitar tones, and was the rare misstep where the convergence of effects crowded one another out.
Older tracks “You Do You’’ and “Lovesick Teenagers’’ were highlights, with their retro synth leads that unfolded off into the horizon like infinite geometric patterns - revealing that danceability had been in the band’s DNA all along.
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| Blouse via my shitty camera |
Portland Ore.’s spookily beguiling Blouse won’t likely be a support act for much longer. The coed four piece conjured the dark-wave dream-pop of a raft of cult acts on songs such as “Time Travel’’ with spellbinding keyboard washes and dirty driving bass leads in the vein of The Cure, while singer and guitarist Charlie Hilton’s understated vocals dissipated in the air in gossamer webs of reverb.
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