Concert Review: Built for the Sea @ Slim's, 9/18

Our Tonight in Rock preview of Built for the Sea's triple-release concert with Low Red Land and Tartufi alluded to a comment by singer Lia Rose regarding the ideal role of audience members as "friends, not fans," and the full yet intimate crowd at Slim's on 9/18 manifested this duality of formal artistry and comfortable amicability that is apparent also in the music itself. Though the show inaugurated the first sales of new albums from each band, and Threads Productions' Dragon Slayers Vol. 3 compilation was freely distributed all night, most attendees seemed already familiar with the music through previous demo performances, MySpace downloads and times when they were just, you know, riding bikes with the cellist.

Low Red Land opened the night playing tracks from Dog's Hymns, guitarist Neil Thompson wearing a tie and collared shirt tucked into his blue jeans for the occasion while bassist Ben Thorne remained in a characteristic white t-shirt. Though the tightly picked guitar of songs like "West Texas" emphasized the band's math rock elements, the harmonized vocals of Thompson and Thorne on "Gunfighter's Afternoon" evoked a contemplative Lynyrd Skynyrd. The group's amalgamation of shoegazing southern-rock was especially well represented by the new album's title track, "Thompson and Thorne" announcing in a coarse shout aimed slightly away from the microphone, "We came from the northern town/our fathers were honest men/and I loved her on a public beach as the stars singled round again." Both it and "Dreams that Heroes Dream" are viable singles, if slightly reminiscent of Faraquet, and the set rocked in satisfying proportion to drummer Mark DeVito's sculptural facial hair.

With minimal introduction and few subsequent explanatory interludes, Built for the Sea buoyed the audience across warm yet crystalline undulations of Lia Rose's brightly sonorous vocals, Michael Fecskes' cello and the building densities of Jon Latimer's guitar and Daniel McKenzie's bass. The set list started at the first track from Mise en Scene and progressed through cornerstone songs like "Hypnotist", one of the most popular titles from the self-titled debut album, and "Pictures", a probable new single. More so than in the group's studio recordings, a sustained simultaneity of chords and arpeggios rolled toward the audience as a coalesced roar similar to those of post-rock instrumentals. Though I might have occasionally preferred slightly more lyrical abstraction to match the powerfully ambiguous melodies, Rose's vocals added a distinguishing contour to their swells.

The amount of transitional equipment rearrangement that occurred after the close of Built for the Sea's set and before the appearance Tartufi heralded the compositional intricacies of the latter's succinctly spastic melodies. After Brian Gorman's contrasting drum phrases were thickly looping and Lynne Angel had changed basses and tunings twice, the duo was halfway through their first song. Known since their South by Southwest performance in 2006 for solid live shows, Angel tapped out flocks of chiming guitars while Gorman alternately grounded them beneath strata of metamorphic signatures. Exhibiting mostly new titles from Nest of Waves and Wire, but also some from Us Upon Buildings Upon Us and earlier releases, Tartufi finished the show with ostensibly innocent harmonies and noisy rebuttals. They sounded appropriately like a synthesis of the two preceding bands, themselves eclectic admixtures.

Slim's acoustics were impressively lucid, and the audience did not wane as the night progressed. A congenial crashing of sirens' songs both stormy and serene.

Previous MCMB coverage:
Tonight in Rock: Built for the Sea @ Slim's, 9/18
Mp3 of the Day: "Release"

Watch for Low Red Land's Dog's Hymns here.
Watch for Built for the Sea's Mise en Scene here.
Pre-order Tartufi's Nest of Waves and Wire here.