After watching the Jayhawks squeak past Davidson yesterday, I rushed to Milwaukee to catch Explosions in the Sky (lovingly referred to as “EITS”) play the Pabst. I got settled in just in time to see the excellent opener, Lichens.

Lichens is Rob Lowe. He layed down a twittering of bird sounds over a deep bass that continued through the twenty minute song/set. On top he layered riffs and wordless vocals. At times, the rhythm and harmony sounded faintly middle eastern, but as a whole, the experience was unclassifiable.

EITS took that stage and opened quietly, which I respect. They could have walked out and torn up the stage straight away, but they decided to approach things more delicately. For the next hour and a half, they swung between raucous and calm, anthemic and utterly solitary. And no one knows better the value of a hard stop. They create a single melody and then rip it, turn it, tear it apart and squeeze every last drop of juice from it. At times, they played while sitting on the stage, hopping up when they hit the big riffs.

Their music is deeply personal, for them and for the audience. Yet no matter how introspective their music is, it’s clear that the true experience is about the balance between the band and the crowd. They closed by swinging the stage lights out over the audience, as if to say, “you’re in this too.”

Leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of the show.

Photo: Austinist
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Myspace: Explosions in the Sky
MP3: Explosions In The Sky - “Welcome, Ghosts”
MP3: Explosions In The Sky - “Your Hand In Mine”

Find MP3’s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic

(travis)