Photos by Philip Cosores
If you were to map out the trajectory of a Cymbals Eat Guitars show on a graph, where the x-axis is time and the y-axis is volume in decibels, you’d see a line that starts quite high up, gradually moves upward before spiking up, holding at the new height and then suddenly dropping off to silence, either to bouce straight back again to a new height or to relax since it’s the end of a song. What I’m trying to say is a) Cymbals Eat Guitars are loud b) A Cymbals Eat Guitars show is a rollercoaster of noise c) This kind of rapid changing in pace and volume in split seconds can only come through being a band that has played countless shows together and is extremely tight, both musically and personally.
This was not the case for the night’s opening band La Sera. Essentially the solo project of ‘Kickball’ Katy Goodman from Vivian Girls, it seems she has a different band every time she rolls into a different town. However, this doesn’t take away greatly from her songs since they are pleasantly simple anyway. In La Sera she plays the same role as she does in Vivian Girls; the lead-singing bassist who engages with the crowd with her sweet voice, both when she’s singing and when she’s talking between songs. On this occasion she showed off not only material from her debut album La Sera, but also b-sides which fit in on the same level of quality. Bouncing gently around the stage and smiling the whole time, it was hard not to enjoy the music of Katy Goodman.
Second on the bill was Hooray For Earth, a band who have been receiving a lot of praise via word of mouth, as proven by the large crowd that packed into the Echo to catch their performance. While the first couple of songs were a little mired by mixing troubles leaving them somehow sounding like cheesy 80s pop hits, they eventually found the right balance and settled into their groove. Providing their blend of dance-avant-rock, it was difficult to pin Hooray For Earth down; their heavy use of percussion brought a tribal atmosphere to the proceedings and when injected with a deadly catchy string of notes from the myriad instruments on show it was exciting, drawing comparisons in my mind most clearly with Gang Gang Dance. The temptation was to dance, but with the music rising and falling so often, it was never clear when would be a good time to start getting your moves on. Fortunately backing singer Jessica Zambri led the way, getting her groove on whenever she knew there would be a good opportunity to do so, leading the crowd. They played entirely from this year’s True Loves, with each song getting a large cheer, and even opening song “Realize It’s Not The Sun” becoming a colossal live number while being little more than an intro on record. Word of mouth has got them this far, and with a live show this strong it will be interesting to see how much further they can go.
Cymbals Eat Guitars took little time getting into the dark material that makes up their new album Lenses Alien with “Plainclothes” and “Another Tunguska” appearing early in the set. Singer Joe D’Agostino wailed and screamed even more furiously than on record, creating a visceral experience. The conclusion of “Plainclothes” was a particularly highlight-worthy moment as all four members went full throttle with D’Agostino rasping so insanely that it seemed sure he would tear his throat, and then in a split second the song had wrapped up and disappeared as if it had never happened, with every band member stopping precisely on time.
Throughout the set the way that the guitars rose to ear-punishing crescendos before falling back to quietness to accentuate the vocals or Brian Hamilton’s often unfairly overlooked keyboard work, which adds a subtle beauty to their whole sound. “Definite Darkness” was the epitome of this, with its sweeping movements, underpinned entirely by the keyboards, which accentuate what is probably the most melodic vocal the band has (and doubly so with Matt Whipple providing great backing vocals). The mid-set tentpole came in the form of Lenses Alien opener “Rifle Eyesight,” which is unrelenting over its eight minutes (probably longer live – it’s easy to lose track of time in the haze of feedback), and includes two minutes of pure noise which every member of the band clearly revels in. Running the song straight into “Shore Points,” meant that it was well over ten minutes of pure, unadulterated sound; and it was wonderful.
Older fans in the audience may have been a little perturbed by how little was played from their debut album Why There Are Mountains, but it was understandable considering how much they toured that album; I mean, I lived in London and saw them three times on that tour – and I could have seen them twice as many times. However, the band still took time to play “Cold Spring,” which brought a cheer from the audience, and they closed their set with the triumphant “Wind Phoenix.”
So, going back to the graph that I made up at the start of this mess, I guess my ultimate point is that, if you took that graph and changed the value of the y-axis from ‘volume’ to ‘crowd excitement’ it would look almost exactly the same – high at almost all times. Cymbals whip up a storm and they drag your attention along with it. You’re undoubtedly going to leave with your ears ringing, but that will just be a nice reminder of the great show you just experienced.
