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Brahms, Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn

Live Reviews

It’s difficult to place just where the issue lies.

24th February 2011, Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn / By Willis Arnold
Brahms, Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn If you have the opportunity, go to a show at Glasslands Gallery. The venue is yet another converted warehouse in Brooklyn, but with a solid sound system, stuffed bear heads on plaques, and a stage backdrop that looks like a quilt of crushed taffeta, it’s kind of a win.

This is the type of venue that is perfect for billing an evening with the bands Tanlines, Acrylics, and Brahms. As disparate as the décor these bands still hail from beneath the shared banner of indie-rock.

Tanlines is a full band, and trades in psychedelic rock befitting its classic line-up of drums, bass, keys, guitar and male / female vocals. Their set carries a punch, as the songs seem surprisingly upbeat. There's an underlying snap and drive beneath each melody that keeps the band from spilling over into the meandering psych stylings that have been heard the world over. They would fit well on a bill with The Smith Westerns.

Performing as a duo, Acrylics trade in harmonies and arrangements similar to those of Fleetwood Mac. Throughout their stripped down performance, melody takes centre stage and raises above their instruments. At times their songs seem a little too delicate, the influences a little to prescient.

Brahms headline the event, holding court before a series of green and red lights the band have brought with their instruments. Brahms seem to fall in step along bands like Sun Airways and Suuns, Cut Copy and a host of others that have embraced the influence of Primal Scream’s inimitable 'Screamadelica'. Each of these acts seems committed to the cause of proving that dance music and rock and roll are something that can work together. In the case of Cut Copy, the synthesis seems effortless, a success. For the others the connection and subsequent execution is slightly more dubious.

Brahms stands out from this list in their homage to New Order, playing to the dark corners of the dancehall instead of the disco ball or strobe lights. There’s a more ominous delivery of their vocals, more slink to their bass than pop. It’s the kind of dance music you might imagine Udo Kier listening to in Warhol’s Dracula. Yet whereas New Order made you want to bring the awkward dance moves down to the floor, Brahms just makes you want to shuffle or bob your head.

It’s difficult to place just where the issue lies because the band has beats; they have some talent, and their mining territory that should be rather rewarding at the moment. Yet there is something lacking in their catalogue that makes the music seriously engaging.

Over the course of the evening the band let loose with one open and unashamed dance song. It's pop, yet it's brooding pop. It seems the exact balance of shadows and disco to make the band stand out from similar acts, and during its duration the crowd move more. Perhaps, as pop acts are given more and more leeway to explore the weird and fringe interest of the genre, fringe acts should feel free to explore their own pop sensibilities. Rating: 5/10
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