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New Haven, Connecticut’s Earthside opened their set with “We Who Lament” from their most recent album, Let the Truth Speak. Fans have been waiting for eight years for this since their debut, but to be fair, so has the band. That their tour brought them to Atlanta for their third time easily makes amends, at least for local fans.
For someone whose ear gravitates to either guitar or bass, this song was a great starting point for the set, highlighting Ben Shanbrom’s drums. Though not underappreciated in their recordings, the live performance in many ways brings the percussive complications to the fore. It’s not a recording/production issue. Whether Gavin Harrison, Marco Minnerman, or another luminary, you feel it when a drummer inhabits their kits live, particularly a certain type of drummer playing challenging parts. And it doesn’t require a massive drum set. Hello, Mr. Shandrom! And you have to love it when the demands of drumming leave no time for posturing.
Earthside features guest lead vocalists, and for this song Keturah was “piped” in (as well as their own backing vocals), as were other singers for later songs. It didn’t help or hurt the performance and left the band to do their thing. Frank Sacramone’s “thing” was quickly revealed to favor levitating inches from the floor while playing his keytar on essentially all of the floor space available at stage left.
Bassist Ryan Griffin and particularly guitarist Jamie van Dyck are more reserved on the theatrical side, but it’s fitting that the band members visually communicate both the introspective and demonstrative expressions of their music, or a seeming balance between the band’s sweeping post-rock and more assertive prog-metal traits.
It’s difficult to call out highlights when a setlist has five songs, but as fans know, there are no 3:00 singles. That said, I was pleased that “Watching the Earth Sink” made the cut, one of my favorites from their new album, but probably because I favor the instrumentation more than the additive melodic aspects of vocals or the more pointed intent from the lyrics.
Music speaks. Sometimes it’s the lyric or meaning, or maybe a mood or the recollection of it triggers a time and place. Perhaps it captures an emotion or “heals” in some way. For me, their music brings a juxtaposition of a feeling and the root of a soul. Who you are helps define your response. “The Closest I’ve Come,” from the band’s 2015 A Dream in Static, hits that mark with its contrast of aggression with the higher sprites of their post-rock, atmospheric tendencies. It’s complex and covers a range of introspective moods and responses. That’s left for each listener to interpret, but for me was, to borrow from its title, a close musical expression of where I’ve been, where I am, or where I want to be, all in one song. It resonated live and was my highlight for their all-too-brief set.
The band rocks, simply said, and on their own (never mind supporting Caligula’s Horse, itself a very fun band to catch), a freaking bargain. Check their tour dates. Figure out a way to make it happen!
Bonus points – the band is accessible after their set! Negative points – limited merch and no CDs of Let the Truth Speak
Additional photos follow.
Setlist:
