Review: Christian Stanger
Photos supplied by Michael O’Brien
Any discussion about indie rock in the first 20 years of this century is a minefield. Styles collide, genres blur, scenes fracture and reform and fanbases are more tribal like they forgot that this was all just for fun. But if we’re talking the louder end of the spectrum, straddling the line between loud and sublime, you’ll find Silversun Pickups. Shimmering walls of guitar, interlocking drum and bass grooves, and Brian Aubert’s ethereal, aching falsetto have kept the LA outfit in the conversation for 20 years. That’s what is drawing a crowd to the Tivoli tonight. I hope they all brought earplugs.
Auckland quartet Coast Arcade open the night with bright indie-pop hooks with unexpected depth. Beneath sharp melodies lies a hazy, shoegaze inspiration, where echoes of Slowdive lurk inside a driving, kinetic rhythm section. On tracks like ‘Highest Heights’ and ‘Baited’, winding guitar layers expand to fill the Tivoli, wrapping the room in an enveloping wall of sound. Their lyrics bleed the specific, volatile friction of early adulthood; even if that chapter of life feels like a distant foreign country to me now, the immediate pull of their set is impossible to resist.
There isn’t much in the way of fanfare as the headliners appear on stage, just a background drone of overdriven guitars and atmospheric keyboard sweeps before the opening track from their latest album Tenterhooks, ‘New Wave’, begins. The Tivoli, with its high ceilings and ridiculous acoustics, has always suited bands that thrive on atmosphere rather than brute force, making Silversun Pickups the perfect occupants tonight. I wasn’t prepared for the power of Brian Aubert’s voice in the live setting. It feels primordial and arrestingly powerful, but never out of control. ‘The Wreckage’ follows in album order, with an angular, walking bass line that makes your ribs feel like they’re clattering.
Who would think from the studio sound that ‘Well Thought Out Twinkles’ would land like a bomb? The guitars over-driven to hell and somehow louder, with the energy in the crowd wilder and more volatile, like the weekend finally landed. Bassist Nikki Monninger allows a smile to creep across her face as she opens the bass groove over the feedback. You can tell she probably looks forward to this moment every night. Aubert’s vocals still striking and front and centre in the mix as he sings poignantly “we share apocalyptic views, how comforting we see them too, who are we?” before again being overcome by the tower of sound building through the bridge.
‘Panic Switch’ from 2009’s Swoon soon follows with the same sense of controlled chaos. The groove is relentless, Aubert’s guitar cutting through the room while Monninger and drummer Christopher Guanlao lock into a rhythm that feels close to mechanical. It’s impossible to ignore the sheer scale of noise that a four-piece can produce.
To exemplify the loud, there also needs to be quiet moments as well. Keyboardist Joe Lester lays a foundation of soft, deep orchestral sweeps for ‘Three Seed’, as the room collectively exhales before the guitars slowly bloom again. Later in the set ‘Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)’ from 2015’s Better Nature does a similar job managing the pace but, even here the live arrangement carries more weight than its studio counterpart. Everything tonight has a bit more bite and even Monninger’s vocal contributions add another layer of depth.
There are surprises too. Leading into ‘Panic Switch’, Aubert briefly tears into the opening riff of Megadeth’s iconic ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due’, somehow making the transition from foundational thrash to classic indie-rock, the most natural imaginable. Later, the sombre, minor chord-progression of Alice In Chains’ ‘Nutshell’ lends itself to introduce ‘Long Gone’ from latest album. These should not work. But both do.
The Tivoli is bursting at the seams tonight. Sightlines, never the easiest for non-giraffes in the crowd, become something of a premium once the lights go down. Some fans are content to watch through the doors of the room from the foyer (where the sound is still tremendously loud), while others spend the evening hunting for gaps between shoulders. Eventually I retreat upstairs, where a couple of rows back on the balcony offers the best chance of seeing the whole band at work.
It turns out, this the perfect place to catch the interplay of the encore trio ‘Little Lover’s So Polite’, ‘Growing Old Is Getting Old’, and the compulsory SSPU track ‘Lazy Eye’. Brian Aubert spins in concentric circles while the rest of the band lock in a groove that could have wound on for hours, but we’re already two hours deep at this point. The dreamlike state has to end eventually. On the walk back to the car, I overhear everything from “what a band” to “no one else makes me feel like they do”..
SILVERSUN PICKUPS – Australian & New Zealand Tour Dates
With special guests: Coast Arcade
Saturday 25 July
Odeon
Hobart, TAS
Tuesday 28 July
Forum
Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 29 July
Enmore Theatre
Sydney, NSW
Friday 31 July
Powerstation
Auckland, NZ
Tickets available via Destroy All Lines
