After a short but spirited set at Rochester's Gold Music and Arts Festival only days earlier, Detroit's spacey post-rockers The Summer Pledge made a lasting impression on the crowd at Ferndale's popular nightspot, the Post Bar. There were plenty of reasons for the crowd, who were packed in the small main floor area like sardines, to walk away satisfied: the roughly hour-long set was loud and the band was as energetic as I'd ever seen them, playing in front of a great deal of friends.
The Post isn't really a concert venue - it's a bar. There is no stage, no lighting, which doesn't make for a picture-friendly environment, so I wasn't able to capture any shots of the show, but my near-photographic memory hasn't failed me one bit.
Before the music kicked off, various members of the main act could be seen walking around the bar, including lead singer Dustin Mclaughlin who, surprisingly enough, recognized me and stopped to talk a bit. He thanked me for coming out and said they had an excellent, long set in store, though he admitted that my favorite song, "Lost In The Business World", was not going to be included, citing with a chuckle that though it was the first song they wrote together as a band, he thinks they actually get worse each time they perform it.
Prior to the main act, two bands from New York warmed up the crowd. First up was The Medicine Man, a four-piece experimental outfit that set the mood perfectly with their blend of psychedelic blues, alternative and post rock, and jazz. It's hard to describe their sound, but it's incredibly spacey, more like extended jam sessions, and has a very soulful, bluesy quality live.
Their opening set was nothing short of spectacular, and after the performance I greeted keyboardist Trevor Oswalt, who was kind enough to write down the band's setlist. Combining tracks from their two records, as well as a few new ones, the setlist may not be completely accurate as Trevor rewrote it from memory after they were done. However, according to the paper I have, it consisted of the songs "Stone Blind", "New White Moccasins", the new song "Big Bad Wolf", "Open Up And Breathe", "Lion Hunt", the title track from their latest record, "Forever Brother", and an unspecified Alice Coltrane cover. The setlist also lists "Tambour Moin Rele", but it's struckthrough with a question mark as Trevor honestly couldn't remember.
Whatever it actually contained, it was a fantastic opening set from an extraordinarily talented group of musicians. Songs were extended and fleshed out from their far more sparse recorded versions on the records, and it almost felt like watching a band just rehearse and experiment together. I was quite impressed; impressed enough to purchase both their debut album, Reverberations For Baby, and their newest, Forever Brother.
Up next were Ancient Sky who had been described as similar to The Summer Pledge. Unfortunately, I did not find this to be the case. Though the crowd certainly seemed into them, particularly the members of The Summer Pledge themselves, I just couldn't get into what I was hearing. I can't give a true and honest review, however, as my attention was also divided between their set and a conversation with an old friend who'd joined me for the show.
At the close of Ancient Sky's set, however, my attention was focused solely on The Summer Pledge - so much so that I didn't even mind when my friend headed home after their first song, "Silver Choice". Friends of the band stood at the front of the crowd, jumping around as best they could in the cramped confines of the bar, for the duration of the set. At various times, Mclaughlin ran around the outskirts of the crowd, playing his guitar up close and personal while friends playfully mussed his hair and at one point, he laid on his back in a classic rock 'n' roll maneuver.
The setlist was fairly evenly divided between songs from their stellar debut, You Are You, and new, as-yet-unreleased material. After opening with "Silver Choice", they moved into a song tentatively titled "Peacock". The band had previously explained to me that they've been naming many of their works in progress after random animals, so expect the title to change eventually. A rousing version of "Fences For Teeth" followed the new track, and I must say that the Post's meager sound system handled The Summer Pledge's extremely loud music very admirably. The echoes of the guitars, vocals, and even the most ferocious riffs were mixed clearly and audibly without losing any of the punch.
They played two more new tracks, "Dolphin" (another tentative title) and "Bloodclot", before a rare performance of "House Of Beds", which they dedicated to a friend who'd been requesting it for several shows. They closed the set out with the final new track, an amazing tune called "Beelzebub's Teeth", which is easily one of the best songs the band has written thus far in their young career and is high atop my own personal most wanted list.
Though only seven songs were performed, the extended nature of each track made for an incredible set. The Summer Pledge are masters of epic riffs and shifting rhythms. Nearly every song could be divided up into several separate tracks, but they managed to turn them into one coherent work. After being blown away by the live performance of the debut album at Mr. Sandman's Quadruple Album Release Prom back in June, there is now no question that they are the musical discovery of the year. I eagerly look forward to their new studio material, but seeing them live is an entirely different experience. The raw power of their music simply must be experienced in person.
Check out The Summer Pledge's on MySpace.
Check out The Medicine Man on MySpace.
Check out Ancient Sky on MySpace.
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