One of the first signs of winter gig season is the fogging up of glasses and camera lenses upon arrival at a hot, packed-out venue. Tonight, this is provided courtesy of Massachusetts post-rock heavyweights Caspian, who have actually sold out the show with a few days to spare; not bad for a band with zero presence on mainstream or even satellite radio!
A spooky deep voice recording urging everyone to “go all the way” heralds their arrival on stage, and the soft feedback intro of Waking Season rolls in. The drummer beings playing a xylophone, and then a hi-hat simultaneously, creating a twinkly sci-fi vibe as the numerous guitars rumble into life partnered by white strobe lights that gradually get brighter and brighter as the song reaches its epic finale, and then cuts out promptly to end it. An epic moment…and that’s just the first song!
An equally rousing Echo And Abyss follows from 2015’s epic Dust And Disquiet record, with the one of the few vocal contributions of the night from stage middle and left, though they’re basically inaudible due to the ferocity of the music accompanying them! Afterwards, “frontman” Philip Jamieson (only in the sense he’s the only one who speaks!) addresses the crowd in French, and it’s not bad at all! He mentions how deeply they love Montreal, which elicits the usual roars you’d expect from a Montreal crowd.
Some Are White Light comes next, complete with more high-pitched feedback and even a broken guitar string, before Gone In Bloom And Bough ups the ante even more as a sea of strobe lights flash and guitars flail across the stage. The electro intro of Arcs Of Command is greeted by another huge roar from the crowd, and it’s absolutely MASSIVE, it sounds like the end of the world. Bar Le Ritz becomes a sea of bouncing heads, and all on stage are sweating profusely, giving it their all. This is the reason we support live music, right here.
The main set concludes with Sad Heart Of Mine and Ghosts Of The Garden City, after which the band put down their instruments, and sit down on the stage as feedback wails out from the amps and the speakers for a minute or so. Philip then stands back up and proclaims that they’ll play 3 more songs. Ríoseco provides their most Explosions-In-The-Sky moment, a more mellow instrumental offering that soon also explodes into life, and is followed by Darkfield, with its pre-recorded intro that resembles industrial machinery leading into samba-style snare drums and a growling bass line that sets the sea of bouncing heads rippling again. After thanking the crowd one final time, they leave with a new song, Castles High, Marble Bright. May sound a terrible idea on paper, but tonight, Caspian can do no wrong, and it provides a grandiose conclusion to a grandiose 90-minute set. When it comes to post-rock, if you have no lyrics, your music has to say a lot. Tonight, Caspian said plenty.
Setlist
Waking Season
Echo and Abyss
Some Are White Light
Gone in Bloom and Bough
Arcs of Command
Sad Heart of Mine
Ghosts of the Garden City
Ríoseco
Darkfield
Castles High, Marble Bright
Review & photos – Simon Williams
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