ANTELOPE
[The validity of support acts: they are the musical equivalent of trailers before a movie is shown in a cinema. Their purpose is to perform, cause minimal offence and fuck off post haste. Most lengthy trailers/support acts result in hefty consumption of popcorn/alcohol. Support acts can be very damaging for the music scene and the nation’s health.]
I always wondered what a Fiery Furnaces support act would sound/look like. My question was answered (to an extent) with Antelope - a post-punk outfit from Washington DC. They had a bizarre set up with ever rotating band roles - drummer-come-singer-come bass player et cetera.
Musically a horrific, unsettling combination of repetitive beats, droning vocals and shrieking vocals made an immediate, scarring impression. I’m almost certain the shrieking vocalist danced around the stage like a deranged crab for a bit while the other vocalist-come-drummer sang backwards. Forwards backmasking?
You gotta give it to them for out-weirding the Furnaces. Though I’d rather not hear, discuss or even think about their music ever again.
THE FIERY FURNACES
Playing mostly material from the brilliant new album Widow City and entertainingly schizophrenic Bitter Tea it made for a sporadically enthralling set. The Widow City songs especially were given a fantastic treatment, the heaviness that the album threatened to have was hear in all its deafening glory. This was a band clearly in complete control of their sound.
Each and every song twisted and turned, every blaring synth noise even more unexpected than the last and not to forget the enchanting presence of vocalist Eleanor and her psychedelic Dylan-esque wordplay and tales of fuck knows what.
So I guess the most unexpected aspect of their set was the near-predictability of it all. Every song went in about 3 different directions but at the end of the day much like their full-length albums they inevitably just lead the listener around in circles. By mid-set the songs are interchangeable and I can’t help but feel that less shtick/more restraint is required for their live performances.
Recommended songs: Single Again, Duplexes of The Dead and My Egyptian Grammar
Antelope - 4/10
Fiery Furnaces - 7/10
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