The Silent Type
The Slurpee House
Richmond, VA
May 2007
By Jillian Abbene
(SugarBuzz Wash DC/Richmond))
SugarBuzz Magazine
It is a warm, mild night for a show at The Slurpee House. I have never been here before, and the crowd is an artsy, subdued crowd—a nice change of pace once in a while from the raucous punk rock gigs I’ve been covering lately.
Together for four years, the band adjusts the amps, guitars, and foot pedal switches without exchanging a word—they don’t need to—as a handful of listeners gather inside the makeshift living room/jam area. Giving off little light from xmas lights, a broody and solitary mood is in the air. Silent, Nathan, the lead vocalist, slowly begins swoons of soft-pitch lyrics while stroking chorded melodies on his Gretsch guitar. ‘Shepherd and Wolves’ satellites softer drum-thumps, hitting just below the melody with the effects of an afterthought, which is a good choice of song to commence the set into a subtle ease. Lots of special-effect pedals creating a fuzz-drone by Nick who is standing in shoe-gaze hunch, avoiding eye contract all cost, and striking methodic, dirgy chords—in deep concentration. Meanwhile, Nathan’s fractioning guitar surges along trailing vocals. Here, the crash hard-fuzz chords open up the song with snare and lifting the heavy cloak of intensity.
‘A Broken Ballet’ flushes out all the clean twiddlings and replaces them with fuzzed-drone swerves. Nathan, standing upright, carries a furrowed brow, with eyes to the floor, clearly expressing agitated-crooning. Erratic beats skip in almost jazz-fusion style, with whammy-bar echoes along repeated angry chords, breathing melancholia in twang and sharp-drum thumps.
Each song bleeds into brood—dripping into the next My Bloody Valentine influenced Radio Head, adding and subtracting intense crescendos, and just as the ears settle to the sound, a sharp switch in drum/cymbal unfolds a new chapter but cleverly keeping the theme in tact.
‘Harder’ is an upbeat and catchy tune with mixed guitar and drum that lessons the intensity with a buzzed-borage and a little jumpy groove. Nick is bent half-way and striking chords hard while adding occasional baritoned high notes. This more melodic song ends the set into a forceful slide as chords and drum end in a slam.