Appleseed Cast preview
The Appleseed Cast
Bottom Lounge, Chicago
Friday, February 27, 2009
Back in college, The Appleseed Cast and me were best buds. We were into the jagged side of Sunny Day Real Estate, a land where bands like Mineral and Joan Of Arc made welts on their arms by tying guitar strings around them. That poppy stuff like The Get Up Kids and Promise Ring was O.K., too, but their The End Of The Ring Wars (Deep Elm), specifically “Marigold & Patchwork,” understood what was going on then, man.
But after college, y’know? They cleaned up the sound, tried to be a mix of Elliott-style atmospherics and Jimmy Eat World accessibility on Two Conversations (Tiger Style). I followed an Up Records muse, awash in guitar solos and such, and we made plans to meet up on 2006’s Peregrine (Militia Group), but something fell through. What’s a peregrine, anyway? Sounds like they’re into books I couldn’t care about. (It’s Latin for “wanderer.” Latin!)
But 10-year reunions are where it’s at and — hey! I remember you! You look . . . different. So you’re into shoegaze and instru-metal post rock then? Sagarmatha‘s eight-minute opener doesn’t have vocals until there’s less than two to go, and those are buried under a masking effect making them more instrument than lyrical vessel. The eight-minute “The Road West” comes straight from the Explosions In The Sky playbook, so much so it could have been written while napping during Friday Night Lights the movie. “The Summer Before” and “Raise The Sails” carry the ethereal jangle of British dream pop or California’s Paisley Underground, a respite from an Irish shower of too many effects.
But it was nice to see ya.
The Giants, Or So It Goes, and Color Radio open.
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
