There is a kind of tramp that if he or she were multiplied and re-imagined as, say, two indie bands, their names would be Lower Dens and Bear in Heaven. They would mumble in gloomy and vaguely frightening, disjointed prog-rock voices; and if you were to bear through the frosty atmospherics, they would eventually heave a warm blanket of clarity your way. I liked them initially; they were intriguing and could slip seamlessly from accessible, foot-tapping rock to tinny, meditative trance, but at times, the weight of their live performances can be overpowering, and at worst, sleep-inducing.
Maryland’s Lower Dens spellbound the audience with clashing guitar solos and thick reverb. These elements were used as the foundation for dark shoegaze-y numbers that would appeal to followers of Sunny Day Real Estate (I came to realize this after speaking with three different people at the show, none of which knew one another, yet who all summoned said band’s name). The awareness of nothing overtly hip or striking about these kids created an interesting dynamic in a venue esteemed for its smart mid-century modern design. Lower Dens’ front-woman, the gifted and prolific Jana Hunter, could have been mistaken for a sullen street kid in her get-up, hidden beneath a cavernous black hood for most of the night. Likewise, the one obvious audible difference between her solo work and Lower Dens (and there are countless – listen to her 2007 album There is No Home) was her lovely voice, hopelessly buried beneath a static sheath of strings and percussion.
To everyone’s delight, Bear in Heaven introduced themselves as “Bear in Portland” and immediately dished out a disco-jam with vast synth interludes and tons of vocal echo effects. The subsequent songs gradually chiseled away the disco element, diving further into grandiose compositions reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails, but battered with 80’s new-wave keys. The resulting effect was, again, overpowering and nauseating at length. Multi-instrumentalist Jon Philpot’s coy between-song monologues, however, were a welcome and sobering contrast to the opaque, oppressive sounds he produced. But that’s not what we came to hear. That said, Bear in Heaven’s sophomore album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, from which most of the night’s songs were taken, is supremely more listenable than its live version; accommodating the senses in a far more delicate manner while still managing to breathe life into a constellation of musical styles bold and forcefully enough to warrant praise.
