Deerhunter

Concorde 2

November 4

MOST concerts do not start with five minutes of static coming out of an old radio. The usual formula is either start with something loud or start with something people know.

But this slow-burner entrance suited Deerhunter’s night at Concorde 2 pretty well. For a band that is at its best when it creates entrancing, overwhelming walls of sound, static is the ultimate shoegaze.

So when the silhouettes on the band’s faces lifted and the static fizzled into Death in Midsummer, it set the tone well for the night ahead.

Right off the bat it was hard to ignore the rhythm section. Moses Archuleta’s drumming was impressive, but the wall-shaking bass from Josh McKay sometimes made it hard to breath as it reverberated through your chest.

In fact, singer Bradford Cox was barely audible for most of the performance - not that that was weakness.

The best Deerhunter songs take a while to build you into a trance. Often the instrumentals are the most effective parts. That was most obvious in the night’s highlight, and arguably the band’s greatest song, Desire Lines.

All of Deerhunter’s instruments melded into one hulking mass of noise, each part pretty much indistinguishable from each other. The frantic light show behind the band certainly helped.

Of course, this made the silent breaks between songs much more noticeable, something Cox remarked upon.... “God it’s quiet.”

His stuttered comments between tracks were a little painful at times, dragging on longer than they needed to. The impromptu dance contest was a bit iffy, as heartwarming as it was hard to watch.

But musically there was nothing to complain about.

For a band whose studio album history goes back 12 years, it was fascinating to see Deerhunter’s evolution from nostalgia-tinted indie rockers to more futuristic pop. In two years they could be back in Brighton with something completely different. That’s the hope.