EARTH
Union Chapel, London,
11th March 2012
Earth playing live in The House Of God? It’s a peculiar
blend given that the spiritual proclivities of mainman, Dylan Carlson, but then
again the band have always inspired (and sometimes required) a kind of devotional
worship over their varied career.
With a
line-up of bass, drums, guitar and cello, this latest incarnation of the band
wring an incredibly mournful exaltation from these base elements. Recent
material has moved away from the drone of old towards an astonishing electric
pagan folk, highly repetitious and patient in developing simple song structures
into something enveloping and bewildering. An additional element to the show is
added by the venue itself – so hushed that you can hear the unamplified conversations
of the band between songs and the clang of strings during a tune-up.
Playing
material primarily from latest album, Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II, the band have a weird kind of telepathy,
playing with huge sympathy to each other across the dark instrumentals. Two
tracks stand out particularly – the weird experimental downer funk of ‘The Rakehell’,
and the martial stomp of old track, ‘Tallahassee’, which brings to mind some
sort of Old Testament liturgy.
The night feels unsurprisingly more
like a mass than a rock gig. In this high-vaulted chapel we’re left in little
doubt that the spiritual channels have been opened and we’re receiving a
transmission from somewhere beyond.
Austin Matthews
No comments:
Post a Comment