Originally posted on April 10, 2010
One’s being is infused by sound, as Asobi Seksu become part of you. You forget where the music ends and you begin, and everyone—band and audience alike—are parts of it, the music.
Playing to a packed theater as the “main course” of j-CATION, the Brooklyn-based Asobi Seksu walked onto the stage accompanied by a booming keyboard loop, videos of magnolias, and enthusiastic cheers from the high-energy crowd.
The band opened with “Sing Tomorrow’s Praise,” the sound of it bigger than the theater. “New Years” followed, the unexpected breaks in the driving beat clearing the aural palate.
“This next song is called ‘Strawberries,’ and it was inspired by bad hummus,” explained the lead singer, who began the song shaking a maraca with one hand, and playing the keyboard with the other. “Meh No Mae” was mesmerizing in its unrelenting wall of harmonious sound, the strobe lights at end of song heightening the Mesmer effect. “In the Sky” featured flutey vox and lightning fast guitar strumming, whose solo in the outro howled like a dying dragon.
The drums for “Thursday” entered during the dragon death throes (check out the nice acoustic version of this song on myspace), ushering in the pop-ier portion of AS’s set that night. “Me + Mary,” the lead singer said, is her Mom’s favorite AS song, while “Lions and Tigers,” which followed, is one of her own favorites. This last song and the next, “Transparence,” were both tuneful, mellower than the wall of sound-esque songs at the beginning of the show.
The set ended with “Red Sea,” the vox soaring high like a tiny bird over a rushing, roaring sea of sound. The song ended with a proper spazzing out, the audience’s screams of delight swallowed in the sound. AS left the stage as their instruments continued to growl and rumble, returning for an encore—“Never Understand” by The Jesus and Mary Chain.
More pictures of the show by Katie Muffett here.
Extended review of j-CATION by KM here.
