After Amen Dunes’ show moved from Fenway’s Church to the Elks Lodge in Cambridge, buy an audience’s fate diverted from the typical show to a much more intimate night. Though the crowd grew towards the headliners, the audience held twenty to thirty members at most throughout the night. Not that Thursday’s show was all that typical to begin with. A bill of Goodbye Space, Hurricanes of Love, Lust for Youth and Amen Dunes promised showgoers an eclectic lineup ranging from dreamy electronic to psych gangsta folk. And while an impromptu venue change an hour before doors may have thrown a wrench in the works, for the most part, that sound still followed through.
The Elks Lodge approached the bill change in a completely relaxed manner. So relaxed that the night’s first set didn’t start until an hour after doors, cutting time for each band drastically. Jason Trefts of Illegally Blind, Church’s main music promoter, was equal parts friendly and stressed, making quick conversation before hopping on his bike to pick up cables at his regular Fenway spot. It seemed Church’s hot water had gone out earlier in the evening, a serious health code violation to impact the restaurant and Thursday’s list of performers. The hour of downtime before Goodbye Space saw few trickle in through the Elks Lodge basement door. With Trefts’ return the show got going, but didn’t truly find its groove until later in the night.
Goodbye Space opened with a sound they call, “post-orbital remorse.” While that type of guilt may only be known to aliens and astronauts, the band put forth their own version by fusing Ravi Shankar with Louisiana Blues. Goodbye Space was definitely a breath of fresh air from more prominent local indie acts, but the five-piece ensemble had a hard time communicating a consistent sound. A cello, electric and acoustic guitars, sitar and mess of percussion made for a wash of five tunes ranging from spooky swamp music to a final waltzy love song.
Up next was Frank Hurricane as Hurricanes of Love, the folk-spitting, string-picking, unintentionally dread-locked phenomenon. Frank spent his set sharing two lengthy stories packed into two beautifully crafted songs. As if Dave Van Ronk met Odd Future, Hurricane used his choir-like cadence to preach a gospel of juggalos, gangsta rappers, holy rivers of death, Tennessee, hot dog stands, film crews, psychedelics and even Jesus Christ.
With his unbelievable stories Frank gave the crowd all sorts of fancy guitar work from classic folk to blues, as he cast his unpredictable rhythms alongside a shocking glossary of colorful lyrics. He made his audience laugh and imagine themselves moving through life alongside him, as he clamped his hand down on their shoulder, smiled and said, “Heeeeeellllllll yeah.”
Lust for Youth followed Frank Hurricane to contrast his persona entirely. The Swedish duo’s (properly a trio with Loke Rahbek) set focused on synths and a perfectly austere stage manner. Hannes Norrvide took the audience back to the 80’s Euro club scene with poppy samples and obscure voice recordings. Malthe Fischer grooved alongside him on guitar, playing minimal chords, subtle riffs and a complete lack of enthusiasm. The band used their shortened set as a showcase for newer work, as Norrvide moaned and groaned to the tunes of their 2014 drop, International. The night’s venue change furthered the band’s enigmatic quality as the Lodge’s darkened, wood-paneled structure made for a more homey feel. The same setting you’d imagine Norrvide would retreat to create the tracks he so effortlessly, indifferently delivers.
When Amen Dunes finally had their chance at performing it was clear they had been around the block. Noting the scarcity of the crowd, frontman Damon Mcmahon asked the audience to move closer to the stage and then extinguished the overhead lighting. A veteran performer’s move indeed, to erase the line between spectacle and spectators and ultimately make his audience feel less at a show and more like they were watching the band in their practice space.
Mcmahon thanked the crowd for coming and launched into “Lilac In Hand”, a song from the band’s recent release, Love, their strongest output yet. The sound from this album is whole and polished while still encompassing the uniqueness typical to Mcmahon’s work. Amen Dunes delivered a beautiful performance to mirror that, forming their setlist largely from Love with a few older tracks mixed in. From “Lonely Richard” to “Rocket Flare” and “Baba Yaga”, Amen Dunes constructed a masterful live performance through hazy variations of looped guitar, fluid percussion and the ambition of Macmahon’s voice. Like the worldly timelessness of Love, Amen Dunes seemed to be communicating something far greater than the ordinary. And to the delight of the Elks Lodge small but happy crowd, it’s safe to say they succeeded.
