Explosions In The Sky is the soundtrack for two types of moments. The first is that instant when life becomes so sweet that you are temporarily overcome by the depth of emotion you are able to feel. The second is when something feels so overwhelming that it makes you feel as if your nerves could double as lightning. Notice the polar nature of these moments. This is what EitS traffics in: big, flooding realms of force and beauty designed to strum at the root of whatever makes your senses go pop. They are quite skilled at it and frequently astound you. They also go on for about 30 minutes too long.
To me, they like that big bag of Halloween candy you scored as a child after many hours on the neighborhood trail. "Dive in, we can eat the whole bag," said your brain. But after eating for awhile, you began to feel sick and in time, you saw that there can be too much of a good thing. And while an EitS show does not make you feel ill, it is my opinion that, like the candy, a little goes a long way.
That said, everything up to that point of over saturation is pretty grand. The band's ability to both create and demolish intricate soundscapes can be an amazing thing to experience. It's also the only thing you can experience, as they don't speak to the audience except at the beginning ("this show is dedicated to love") and end of the set. This keeps directing the music back to the listener, and almost encourages them to disengage with what they are seeing.
To be honest, engaging with such a cerebral and personal form of music with a bunch people in full reflection mode is actually kind of odd. Usually a crowd is used to increase energy, not just stand before it. To be around anything else evokes a sense of isolation in a scenario you weren't expecting to feel isolated in. Their music provokes this feeling at such a refined level that when you snap out of it and look around, the response to the other bodies is a shocked charge of "oh, you're here too." It's an interesting place to find yourself in, and a great reminder of how powerful sound really is.
It seemed like The Antlers were in Portland to run through the highest points of Burst Apart, and deny the existence of Hospice. I won't complain too much since Burst Apart is easily one of the year's best records, but the fan boy in me would be lying if he didn't say that it was disappointing to leave without a great rendition of "Two" or "Shiva" to remember. Like EitS, the songs that were played were born of a DNA strand built on expansive sounds and tight strings of delay. Peter Silberman, the band's lead singer, used the room these elements afforded him to align Jeff Buckley-like falsetto notes to the wisdom of youth. Bad nights, unfulfilled desires, and the fear of meeting death are topics he explored in his songs and along with the rest of the band, he brought them to life. "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out" was the best of the new material. It's a killer song by itself, but the unexpected groove they tagged on at the end sent it over the top. I think I even saw a few hipsters dancing, and as I've said before, in Portland, that's a compliment.
Speaking of Portland, local act Typhoon were killer in their own right. With a lead singer who sounded like Damien Rice, and a 13 piece band that included a trumpet and string section, these hometown favorites were captivating even during their soundcheck. Theirs were tales of a life lived in autumn and they carried the type of sound that an early Van Morrison fan could hear their hero's backbeat in. The words were a delightful bundle of contradictions, where a moody phrase broke out into a joyful expression of spirit and strings of hope held onto the pangs of sadness. There were so many ups and downs, and deep chords struck that I almost saw them as the tracks for another type of soundtrack: the soundtrack to a year of life. All the trials, distractions and miraculous improvements, all wrapped up into one. It was powerful, and I can't help but see them taking a rightful place on the national stage any day now.
