Review Thu Sep 22 2011

Review: Explosions in the Sky, Viva Voce, Common Loon @ Pygmalion Music Festival, 9/21

By James Ziegenfus

First nights of music festivals, even established ones with stellar lineups, can be a mixed bag with the culmination of months of planning, little hiccups and the sense of anticipation jumbled together. On Wednesday, the 7th year of Champaign's Pygmalion Music Festival kicked off with Common Loon, Viva Voce and Explosions in the Sky at the Canopy Club. It wasn't perfect, but the flaws weren't major and the anticipation is clearly warranted.

As local opener Common Loon pointed out, they are no strangers to this festival since they've opened it a few years in a row. The guitar/drum duo powered through a set of their psychedelic pop that, without looking at them, sounded as if it came from way more than two people. The guitar was fuzzy and booming. The drumming was intricate yet not distracting. Unfortunately, they didn't play very long and seemed to leave before their time was up. Portland duo Viva Voce were next with a set sounding far more steeped in southern rock than in the past. Sludgy country hooks were featured across songs highlighted when sung as duets. Drummer Kevin Robinson strapped on an acoustic guitar for a few tunes and still stomped the bass drum and hi-hat, even ditching the guitar midway through to close out a couple songs with bangs and crashes. Anita Robinson serenaded the crowd with her cool vocals and breezy guitaring, which is all well and good, but it's tough to not think she should let loose and wail a little more. When she does, she pulls it off with aplomb.

It's not uncommon to begin sets with songs from a new album that a crowd maybe hasn't had enough time to digest. It creates a buffer zone for everyone to get into the show before rolling out the hits, so to speak. But Explosions in the Sky have tinkered with their malleable formula on their latest album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care and stringing together a few of those songs lost some of the crowd. Twenty minutes (about 2 songs) into Wednesday's set, chatter sparked up across the Canopy Club. For everyone who'd quieted down after Viva Voce, there was someone else rolling their eyes, conversing and/or texting a friend about Gears of War 3. (The kid in front of me did the latter for about 20 minutes.) Add heat (like Double Door in August) and a bit of a muddy sound to divided attention and it became frustrating to a person there solely to hear music. But despite problems in the crowd, what was happening on the stage was exactly what's expected from Explosions in the Sky at this point.

The instrumental post-rock band build from melodic guitars to beautiful cacophonies filled with effects, then bring it down a few notches before amping it up again. The instrumentation is spot-on, even when they veer from studio versions. Though they write, record and perform as a democracy, Munaf Rayani is where eyes become focused during their performances. He swings his guitar, kneels and sits, bends over with the guitar hung low and appears to get completely lost within the crescendos that the band's perfected over the years. During "Catastrophe and the Cure" he drops the guitar to add some percussion. And, if he's so inclined, he will pound the life out of that guitar, whether it's on the ground or as high above his head as his arms will reach. By late in the show, the band was drawing heavily from standout albums The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place and All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. (The recognition applause for "Your Hand in Mine" was quite boisterous.) And by the 90-minute mark when they were clicking on all gears and had finally reignited the crowd (except for a few outliers), they hit their peak and called it a night. In a world where too many bands overextend their stays, Explosions in the Sky leave their audiences agape and wanting more.

[Gapers Block will return to Champaign this weekend for more coverage from Pygmalion Music Festival.]