Sleepy Sun, The Delta Mirror, and Ringo Deathstarr at the Mohawk
Arian Brumby
Sleepy Sun
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Each year has its sound: 2008 was dominated by the critically lauded, beardy acoustic folk of Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, while the lo-fi garage of groups like Wavves, Vivian Girls, and The Smith Westerns are carrying the sonic torch for 2009. And while the Southern-tinged psych-rock of My Morning Jacket and its ilk never really went away, that it’s not in vogue is sort of a shame, because it means talented groups and excellent albums—like San Francisco sextet Sleepy Sun and its debut Embrace—get overlooked and taken for granted. Fortunately there were enough people with memories beyond the last 18 months to pack the Mohawk on a Tuesday night.
Ringo DeathstarrArian BrumbyCrammed into a tight bill, Ringo Deathstarr had its set cut a little short but still managed to make its point—a loud one, with a studied rhythm section and noisy guitars topped off with gauzy female sigh and deadpan dude monotones a la The Jesus And Mary Chain’s Jim Reid. The accepted shorthand for Ringo Deathstarr’s sound is “shoegaze,” something lead singer Elliot Frazier has heard but fails to subscribe to: “We’re going to do this new dance move tonight,” he said mid-set. “Everyone stare at your shoes, because apparently we’re a shoegaze band.” The band has spunk and energy to spare, sure, but any claims that it’s not within the My Bloody Valentine wheelhouse won’t fly. The sooner its members embrace it, the sooner they can move beyond it. Say it with us: “We’re shoegaze, and that’s okay.”
The Delta MirrorArian BrumbyL.A.’s The Delta Mirror were a departure from Ringo’s deafening set, eschewing live drums for programmed beats, centering songs around lead singer Craig Gordon’s lower register, and layering everything in an electronic wash from keyboard player David Bolt. The result was a set that relished a bit too much in the trappings of electro-rock and emotive, singer-songwriter fare. With songs like “It’s Dark And I Welcome The Calm” or “A Song About the End,” the group is almost too eager to jump into the tumble of all those other knob-twiddling, feelings-sharing projects out there.
Sleepy Sun could effectively be two groups: Aside from a consistent, hard-hitting rhythm section, the band has two talented vocalists and two guitarists adept at both lead and rhythm, but who manage to avoid stepping on one another’s toes. The band’s music is a familiar but inspiring thing. From heavy and heady groove-based numbers to more subdued acoustic interludes, Sleepy Sun sounds like an amalgamation of the prettier vocal groups of the ’60s trainwrecked with that decade’s scarier, more discordant elements—like Stephen Stills and Judee Sill backed by MC5.
From the way they twirled around the stage, vocalists Bret Constantino and Rachel Williams seemed caught up in their own music as much as they were a part of making it. The band certainly aren’t hiding those hippie tendencies—from the gang huddle a la Almost Famous’ Stillwater at the start of the set to the music’s pervading, druggy grooviness—but Sleepy Sun is also about tough, fiery numbers like “New Age,” which included a full-band percussion exploration and an additional band member relegated to the floor, and morphed from thudding, tom-pounding excess to a smoking guitar duel. Lo-fi grottiness may have caught the ear of ’09, but when tape hiss wears thin, Sleepy Sun will still be on its slow burn.
