When Maria Somerville and her band came through Boston on a smoggy Sunday after a decent amount of rainfall, they didn’t shy away from delivering a sublime, majestic performance. Coming off of her 4AD debut from last year, Luster, Somerville continues to draw inspiration from her hometown of Connemara, coastal Western Ireland , its Atlantic climate and mountainous environment. These details have been at the forefront in Somerville’s artistic process long before Luster’s release: her youthful experiences in Connemara, the ambient sounds surrounding the region, and its rural quietness. These elements have informed her body of work, making Luster a modern benchmark that fits right in with 4AD’s timeless catalog. The album is an immersive hybrid of hushed ambience, dream-pop haze, thundering shoegaze, and the classically darkened 4AD sound. Four years after Somerville released 2019’s All My People, Luster feels patiently crafted and fully lived in.
As people wafted through ICA’s spacious 325-person Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, the audience made their way to their bright orange foldout seats. Colle, the experimental pop solo project hailed by New York singer-songwriter Maya McGrory who makes up one-half of Chanel Beads, started off the evening around 8:05 with a 30-minute set swarming with dreamy soundscapes, ethereal guitar tones, soaring vocals and trip-hop percussion. You can’t help but bop your head to the floating synth leads and relaxed, downtempo breakbeats Colle conjures up, as she wields her guitar strumming some gossamer chords that swell and vocal deliveries that soar. It feels like tunes you drift into the blurry night – fitting, especially when the night sky slowly dimmed to a hazy black in the middle of McGrory’s set.
While Ellen Arkbro’s CHORDS soundtracked intermission as peripherals gazed along the curtain-covered windows facing outward toward the Boston Harbor, Somerville and her band came on around 8:45 as the lights slowly dimmed to a barely faint white. What resulted was a 50-minute whirlpool of sounds that filled the warm acoustics of the wide theater. Playing songs mostly from Luster and a few earlier cuts, Somerville’s sound dynamics completely absorbed the audience. While a heaping murk of fuzz from Somerville’s guitar pierced outward from her amplifier, a deep basstone with the slightest cymbal taps is an example of how peculiar they are in experimenting with volume. Going from the overwhelming fuzz to a droning bass hum paired with a subdued synth pad and environmental field recordings minutes later feels like the giant release Somerville and her band are great at doing – playing with the space and acoustics they surround themselves in while balancing density and restraint.
The emphasis on space and environment resonated with me after Somerville’s performance. So much so, I allowed myself to feel the heaviness of the gusty breeze and rainy aftermath once everyone flocked out of the theater and went out into the dark, clouded climate. A dose of tuning into Somerville’s set never hurts, especially when you learn to appreciate the walk home ahead in a brooming rainstorm.
Check out all of Miguel’s photos from the show below.
