Freelance Whales
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Bear In Heaven
Echo - March 24, 2010
The friend I attended this concert overheard a woman talking about her experience listening to the Freelance Whales album Weathervanes for the first time: “Listening to it was a life changing experience.” Now that’s quite a quote. I like this band a lot, but I’m not sure I’ve ever had a life changing experience listening to any album.
After all the buzz about the Freelance Whales at SXSW, the show sold out quickly. Despite the official release of the Whales' album being about three weeks away from the show, I was surprised that so many fellow audience members knew the lyrics (a digital release was already available). Of the three bands on the bill, the Whales were the most sweet and bashful, relating short stories to their fans before playing most of their album.
Then Bear in Heaven came up - with a completely different vibe from the Freelance Whales. My friend was actually surprised I was attending, as their music “didn’t seem like what I normally listen to.” It wasn’t, admittedly, but it’s always interesting to get out there and see what’s going on in the world of psychedelic minimalist pop. I decided to sit down for their set, and was practically vibrated off of my seat by all the reverb from the bass and drums. There was something in this band that reminded me of the Pixies or Kasabian. They clearly knew what they were doing. When they finished, lead singer Jon Philpot told us that we had been “beautiful.”
Cymbals Eat Guitars struck me as, well, screamy. Lead singer Joseph Ferocious kept startling me with his yelled vocals while I was listening to their music, which is quick and synth-heavy. These four dudes are tight, and they rock hard. Their brash style reminded me a bit of Oasis, if Oasis went indie. I was disappointed, though, since the cymbals didn’t eat anything, let alone guitars.
All the bands played enjoyable music that evening, but I still came away feeling how I thought I would: that no one would be able to eclipse my current obsession with Freelance Whales. They may not change my life, but they’ve changed at least a month or so. |
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