Smother Party at Public Assembly
Aug 9, 2009 at 2:40 PM By: Ross Edwards
Rating: 10/11
July 22nd, 2009
Out of tune: A phrase not often associated with great music.Yet Brooklyn’s Smother Party transforms the listener’s expectations and defies typical rock harmonies, supplying a dizzy microtonal (“out of tune”) aural assault.Sure, it’s been done before, incredible dissonance is a cornerstone of classical music and always has been, but in the rock genre it has rarely had such interesting, prodigious, and heavy results.And it’s never before graced Public Assembly’s mainstage.
The rock trio debuted four long songs of surprising intensity and dissonance to a half full bar—some cringed hesitantly, others were smiling ear to ear, and one yelled out in between songs (jokingly), “Tune your guitars!”The comment was rivaled by guitarist Mike Eber’s own muttered jest, “You know, there’s a great band playing next door...” Most people stuck around, however, and good thing, as they witnessed a great band rocking extraordinarily hard.One of the most exciting moments was during “Titan,” which consisted of both guitarists thrashing sustained chords ferociously, and bravely playing in the same register.The sound was as dissonant as anything, and just crazy enough to work.
The whacky tuning was no gimmick—guitarists Kirk Schoenherr and Mike Eber used their unique styles to pull the audience through a carefully planned textural whirlwind.They also allowed each distinct section to ruminate in the air fully, as if savoring its particular flavor, before charging forward to the next, unpredictable arrangement of sound.Lest we forget the incredible Sam Levin on drumset, who glued the band together with his ecstatic commitment and precision.Amidst lopsided time signatures, hits seemingly arriving out of nowhere, and dense contrapuntal layers, each musician delivered precision and sensitivity.Smother Party, for all its ferociousness, at times glimmered beautifully, taking advantage of the spacey, sad feeling that two unfamiliar sounding instruments can achieve.
As Mike simply stated after the show, “We’re building something...” What they are building is shocking and brutal, but not without a courageous vision of exploring a unique soundscape and fulfilling its expressive potential.They are a young band, but perhaps this means they are more adventurous. Out of tune has new meaning!
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