Why did they decide to pair these bands for touring? Is it the xylophones? I certainly enjoy Field Music and their dour northern English ‘tudes. This is partly because they’re the type who use the word ‘penultimate’ in reference to their second to last song, but also because their quirky progpop translates flawlessly onto their cold onstage musicianship.
Sadly, when I interviewed one of them for Sentimentalist, he noted that the three blokes will be returning to their day jobs come April. A strange world when a band’s helping to sell out Bowery and can’t live off the proceeds…
Menomena was a good enough juxtaposition for their pristine openers. Where the former executed their intricate designs tidily, Menomena splayed out repetitive and sparse arrangements with abandon. The drummer definitely embodied this style of performance best, pounding away and rocking himself along trance-like at the same beat for 3-4 minutes. I sort of see these guys as a more jam-oriented, louder Spoon, in that they adapt very simple motifs and play their instruments very sparsely (the exception being aforementioned drumming).
(DirtyHippy.)
