“We recorded this album with no intention of playing it live,” Viernes lead singer Alberto Hernandez told me after the band completed its forty-minute set at Cameo Gallery on Friday night. “Then it blew up, and we had to kind of start figuring it out.” The show, which Hernandez estimated was Viernes’ fifteenth of all time, was the band’s second live performance in New York City in as many days. It wasn’t flawless – the trio suffered from sound issues on the part of Cameo Gallery, among other things – but it was pretty damn good for an act still trying to figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together.
Rather than simply repeating the studio process, Viernes chose to add a live drummer to their performance set-up. “We wanted to get rid of the laptop,” said Hernandez. “It might be a little different, but that’s OK.” In fact, the live drummer was one of the focal points of Viernes’ set. Rather than laying down a steady beat, touring drummer Tyson Bodiford toyed with the rhythm of songs, bending measures with the blunt ends of his drumsticks. He was a dynamic heartbeat, a stuttering anchor to what may have otherwise been an uprooted collection of songs.
Playing under a dangling ceiling decoration reminiscent of Avatar’s holy tree, Viernes kicked off their nine-song set with “Liquid Tunnels,” during which the trio grappled with crackling speakers and mis-balanced vocal mixes. They (or perhaps more appropriately, the soundman) hit their stride during their second song, “Entire Empire.” It’s one of their best studio cuts, a statement that held true in the live setting as well. Bodiford played so frenetically on his kit that it was difficult to tell whether he was on his own or joined by a drum machine. As the show went on, however, the songs bled together a bit, succumbing to swaths of sound that were enjoyable but largely forgettable, at times bordering on directionless.
In many ways, Viernes is a band of the moment – they are a product of the Pitchfork-led chillwave charge in which tastemakers are hell-bent on discovering new acts in the glo-fi nostalgia genre. The fact that Viernes’ debut album, which Hernandez admits was not intended as anything but a creative outlet, has produced high profile reviews and a spot at Brooklyn’s Northside Festival is a testament to the times; Viernes has the unique challenge of trying to establish itself with a spotlight already shining on the stage. Rather than grinding in clubs for years, trying to get noticed, this trio has cannonballed directly into the deep-end.
That being said, Viernes doesn’t seem like a particularly young band. Sure, they aren’t a polished machine – there’s a confidence and chemistry that only comes after playing together night after night. But neither are they an amateur act. They play mature, developed songs, and they play them well.
Later in their set, Viernes struck gold again with songs “Swimmer’s Ear” and “Sinister Devices.” Keyboard and bass player Sean Moore drove the closing tracks home nicely, belying pop inclinations that Viernes only superficially explores on their debut album, Sinister Devices. There are hooks buried there, hooks that only poke their head out once given some breathing room on stage.
In some way, I find that fact encouraging – while I’m not convinced that Viernes can differentiate themselves from the multitude of dream pop acts hitting it big right now, I’m also not convinced that we’ve seen all that this young band can do. Like fellow chillwaver Washed Out, they seem to understand that this is not the end of the road - for this band or for this genre. These guys are talented musicians with an ear for gauzy rock, but they seem to have a pair of dancing shoes pushed toward the back of their closet. If I were them, I’d strap them on and see where they could take me.
