Efterklang, March 14 at the Larimer Lounge
For an outfit whose lead vocalist, Casper Clausen, describes it as “a studio band,” Denmark's Efterklang stared down and overcame the Larimer Lounge’s less-than-desirable acoustics this past Saturday night. With four of Efterklang’s five core members (pianist Rune Fonseca Mølgaard was back home in Denmark awaiting the arrival of his third child) joined by a few guest musicians, the instrument-juggling ensemble showed that, regardless of the venue, even a studio-obsessed group can create a great concert experience. Illuminated by the Lounge's crookedly hung Christmas lights, the seven musicians crowded together on the small stage Saturday, with Clausen moving between singing, blowing into a red plastic kazoo, and holding a xylophone up to his microphone as he batted at it. Wearing a piece of pink cloth strapped to his ankle with tiny bells sewn on it, Clausen added to the symphony by merely tapping his foot to the beat. Violinist Peter Broderick's fierce fiddling was a sight unto itself, but he also hammered the stage with drum sticks, played tambourine, and took over Thomas Kirirath Husmer’s kit while the drummer played trombone. The inventiveness of Efterklang using instruments in unconventional ways—like when Clausen and Husmer rapped the drums' metal rims rather than their skins—was close to breathtaking. The band’s set consisted mostly of new songs off its yet-to-be-titled (or even recorded) album, but they made an impression on the Larimer crowd nonetheless: One attendee shouted, “You guys are really good,” to which Amanda—a very noticeably drunk girl who made sure to announce her name—added, “No! They are beautiful!” Amanda may have been wasted, but she was right.
