By Liam Greenwood
Band: Explosions in the Sky
The Boulder Theater, April 5
It’s no wonder the music of Explosions in the Sky has been chosen for so many films and TV dramas. The members of this post-rock outfit from Austin, Texas have an unbelievable sense of dramatic structure; they tease the audience with drawn out instrumentals, slowly building tension the same way Quentin Tarantino does with long, unedited camera shots before a paramount action scene.
And the April 5 show at the Boulder Theater was no exception. The audience was pinned to the floor by these rock mini-symphonies, being pushed and pulled by the weight of the band’s reverb and heavy distortion, coming close to the head-crushing level of sonic power of My Bloody Valentine, then dipping down into beautiful, delicate instrumentation reminiscent of Sigur Ros.
After having their music featured in films like Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story and the television show Friday Night Lights, it was strange to hear the band live – so loud and emotionally rich – in the context of nothing greater than a rock venue. With all of the ups and downs, the slow, velvet touches followed by the orgasmic climaxes, I was left with an anxious feeling, some deep part of my consciousness was convinced that some thing is about to happen. My media-soaked brain was expecting something like two broken-hearted lovers to reunite on stage, or for the ceiling to split apart and reveal an apocalyptic sky. But that, obviously, didn’t happen. Instead I was stuck with an agro acid-head next to me, shouting at the floor that he would soon pick a fight with that guy next to him with the notepad.
Surely Explosions in the Sky are used to people having apocalyptic expectations for their music. Ever since their sophomore album, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever, dropped days before the 9/11 attacks (and contained the cover art of a plane flying over soldiers, with insert art proclaiming “this plane will crash tomorrow”), they’ve been fodder for mainstream media who just can’t get enough of the headline humping incident. ABC News revived the controversy last fall when the band played a show, coincidentally, on the 20th anniversary of the American tragedy in Ohio; the billboards reading “Explosions in the Sky Sept. 11”
Hopefully the residue of post-terror America doesn’t stick to the band for very long, because their live shows are truly spectacular. Playing no shortage of material off their latest release, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, the band also dipped into plenty of earlier work, pleasing long-time fans and newcomers alike with their waves of sentimentally epic music.
Opening up for Explosions in the Sky, was former lead singer of The Books, Nick Zammuto (performing under just his surname). His new band’s performance were a mini-highlight of the evening, awing the crowd with a closing cover of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” played along to a vintage video of an old man performing the song on an autoharp.
For any fan of straight up, anti-pop instrumental music, it was truly a night to be treasured.
