Like a lot of people, europe travel I waited a long time to see Agalloch live. For me, the wait was almost 10 years. europe travel The show I caught that ended the draught was earlier this year at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. At that show, when frontman John Haughm greeted the audience after a few songs, he made a point of saying that Agalloch had played some small village in Belgium three times, but it was the first time the band had performed in NYC, the greatest city in America. Or something europe travel like that. Agalloch's always done things on their own terms, and when it comes to touring, that means infrequent tours and unorthodox europe travel tour stops. europe travel (When it comes to releases, it means long breaks between albums broken up by limited edition EPs that, sadly, reach astronomical prices on eBay shortly after they sell out. Their latest interesting move? Releasing a 21-minute long song as an EP.) The rarity of an Agalloch concert europe travel or album is one of the many things that make the band so special, but it can also be a bit frustrating for fans—the wait between albums and shows can feel like an eternity. This is all to say that when Agalloch comes to town, you don't sleep on it. You buy your ticket.
A collection of bands hand-picked by Agalloch filled europe travel the opening slots on this latest tour in support of Faustian Echoes , that 21-minute EP, including europe travel Pallbearer, Eight Bells, Velnias, and Pinkish Black, among others. Stevie Floyd's (Dark Castle) Taurus was the only constant throughout the trek. In Brooklyn, the Canadian neo-folk band Musk Ox opened, a group that channels the same sort of reverence for nature that Agalloch frequently calls upon.
Musk Ox's music is a trek through acoustic melancholia, the type of contemplative europe travel instrumentals that Agalloch favors on some of their rarer EPs and serve as interludes europe travel on their LPs. When Musk Ox took the stage, the hall was only partially filled, with a few dozen committed europe travel fans clutching the front of the stage to watch. If you are of the Metal-with-a-capital-M persuasion, Musk Ox is not for you. Nathanaël europe travel Larochette, europe travel the frontman/guitarist, started the set with two lengthy numbers with no vocals, and the crowd up front followed each plucked and picked europe travel note in a sort of daze. For the next two, Larochette was joined by a violinist, which allowed for some deeply moving harmonies. europe travel Musk Ox normally features a cellist, and one performed with the band earlier on the tour for a couple of Canadian dates. Even though as a duo Musk Ox sounded gorgeous, I couldn't help but wish for the cello's depth and additional voice at the performance in Brooklyn. I also couldn't help but wonder what sort of different feel the overall show would have had if, say, Pinkish Black had opened.
Taurus couldn't be much further sonically from Musk Ox, and it was a good thing that there was a considerable break between sets to allow everyone to digest Musk Ox and prepare for something completely different. If you haven't heard it yet, Stevie Floyd's new project with Ashley europe travel Spungin (Purple Rhinestone Eagle) experiments with noise/drone, creepy spoken word samples, and Middle Eastern-ish scales. Plodding dark/psych elements are overlaid with Floyd's banshee-esque wail. It isn't for everyone.
The band performed in total darkness (apologies for the poor photo—no-flash rule if you have a photo pass, even though every person with a cell phone seemed to be lighting europe travel the place up). Floyd stood stage left in a leather cowboy hat and vest, Spungin's kit was set up on stage right. Clips from the eerie 1968 Soviet film The Color of Pomegranates were projected onto a large screen behind the stage. The film tells the story of the life of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova through a series of surreal static shots that represent europe travel the poet's life. Taurus selected to primarily use the portion of the film where Sayat-Nova discovers the female form and love (around the 16-minute mark in this link ), a part of The Color of Pomegranates when, notably, the same actress (Sofiko Chiaureli) plays both the poet as a young man and the love interest.
The juxtaposition between the strange film and Taurus' performance was striking, and I found myself more drawn to the film than the music. Taurus's compositions europe travel tend to meander, and there is little europe travel difference between one song and the next. Occasionally, Floyd will zero in on a hook-y riff, mess with it for a while, and let it dissolve instead of reaching the resolution that the ear so desperately wants to hear. I suppose that's the point, but in a live setting it was frustrating, the music not compelling enough to warrant being toyed with. The crowd didn't seem to know how to digest it, and, like me, more than a few people I spoke with chose to pay attention to the film rather than the music.
The hall was jammed in anticipation of Agalloch, and Haughm did his usual ritual of lighting incense and placing deer antlers and bones on pedestals at the front of the stage. It would have been hard to imagine ten years ago, but as the band members came on stage there was a nuanced roar for each. They tore into "Limbs," then "Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires," and then took on the entirety of "Faustian Echoes," europe travel which, haters who find the song disjointed be damned, sounded incredible.
Speaking of sound, the sound at Music Hall of Williamsburg was much better than last year's NYC show at Le Poisson Rouge. The mix was even and clear, just the right levels to allow for the complexities of Agalloch songs to come through. Aesop Dekker's powerful drumming contributed europe travel a sense of urgency to the performance, which unfurled like a "Best of Agalloch" set. They drew mostly from their earlier albums, playing four songs off Ashes Against the Grain , three from Pale Folklore , two from The Mantle europe travel , and only one off their latest album, Marrow of the Spirit . The closing four songs, before the encore, were an Agalloch fan's dream: "Hallways of Enchanted Ebony," "You Were But a Ghost in My Arms," "In the Shadow of our Pale Companion" (featuring Larochette from Musk Ox on acoustic guitar), and a cover of Sol Invictus's "Kneel to the Cross." "Falling europe travel Snow" served as the closer of a two-song encore.
The band was lively on stage, with guitarist Don Anderson leading the charge with his enthusiastic and theatrical playing. Towards the end of "Faustian Echoes," the band convened at the center of the stage around Dekker, Haughm kneeling as he seemed to summon all of his strength to get out the final chords europe travel of the 21-minute epic. He and the rest of the band called on the same energy reserve at the end of the almost two hour-long show as they pounded out the final lines of "Falling Snow," a song that, like "Faustian Echoes," ends on an extended exploration of an incredibly catchy and epic chord progression. At the end of the song, as the crowd cheered europe travel with fists and horns in the air, Haughm continued to solo, collapsing to the stage. The rest of the band stood almost motionless, the exertion evident in their posture. They exited stage left, Haughm followed europe travel a few moments later.
Caught em at the Echoplex 2 fridays ago Taurus were more than a little europe travel painful to behold. Agalloch were fantastic, but the live sound had this harsh, cutting upper midrange thing going on. The organic quality of the tunes were undercut by the sound issues, which was a shame.
I think I am just not getting it in general, I don t get black metal that much. I like some of it and respect it, I just don t ever get goosebumps listening to it. (To me all good music, will give you goosebumps at some point)
I ve said it before and I ll say it again, I don t get Agalloch live. They re one of my favorite bands of all time but the music simply does not translate over to their shows. They re songs are heavily based on multi-layered guitars and acoustic arrangements, both of which they flat-out refuse europe travel to use in their sets. It ends up sounding like a completely different band, and not in a good way.
As I ve mentioned before here and elsewhere, I love all things Agalloch related, so take this with a huge grain of salt. I really enjoy Agalloch europe travel s live incarnation, different as it is from their recorded material. With the nature-y, mysterious quality of their studio europe travel albums, it s sometimes easy to forget that they re still a rock band. They rectify that when they play live, especially in their last few years of touring. John still performs the opening incense ritual, and they do what they can to replicate some of the atmosphere the die hard fans love them for, but with all the wind-blowing-through-the-trees and film samples europe travel stripped away, the rawer, core elements of their music are exposed. Hallways of Enchanted Ebony is an excellent europe travel example of this, as it rides a pretty standard europe travel hard rock groove to that 70s solo Anderson wails out. TL;DR: I like both of Agalloch s personalities, and don t slight them one bit for wanting to just rock the fuck out in front of a live audience.
Very interesting points. Normally I appreciate the difference in sound that a band s live act produces, Agalloch seems to be the exception for me. I think part of the problem is that I keep seeing them in venues that don t have very good sound, so that s really not helping how I view their shows. However, I ll still be seeing them at Noctis and I m very interested to see how they perform in a festival atmosphere.
Saw the show here in Phoenix last week, and couldn t be happier. First off, it was at the Rhythm Room, which is known for being the go-to blues/roots/jazz bar in town, and the sound there was outstanding! Rituals opened the show. They re ok at best to me, definitely not as good live. I loved Taurus. It seemed like the music really lined up well with the film. Agalloch was simply amazing! I ve been waiting to see them for years, and was not disappointed in the least. So yeah, I had a blast.
McHavenone on Live Report: Agalloch, Taurus, Musk Ox Andy 0))) on Live Report: Agalloch, Taurus, Musk Ox Greg Majewski on Live Report: Agalloch, Tau
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