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This Will Destroy You – Petit Campus – Sunday, June 6th, 2010

June 8, 2010 in Show Reviews

Montrealers have proven themselves to be troopers when it comes to bad weather. No amount of rain or ominous cloud coverage can draw them away from what they want to do, whether it be bike 50 km around the city or crowd together in a small room for some good music. Sunday night, Petit Campus was filled with This Will Destroy You fans who have been waiting for a long while to see their favourite instrumental rockers.

Brooklyn, NY’s Slow Six were up first, and they started off the night by immediately drawing in the reclusive crowd from the back of the room right up front. There were two violins, a guitar, keys and some pounding drums creating the perfect symmetry. It is with bands like Slow Six that one can truly identify the pure beauty of stringed instrumentation. No need for any ridiculous solos or over the top vocals. Just simple, elongated notes did the trick just fine and had everyone into the performance.

The Chicago based Light Pollution came on shortly after, and couldn’t have been more different than the previous band. Their music was much was less climatic, instrumental post-rock and more straight-up head-bopping power-pop. The rough vocals gave the band a sort of garagey feel, and the keys worked on the other hand to mellow their sound out creating a perfect balance. They set the stage perfectly for the band of the night, This Will Destroy You.

This Will Destroy You are straight to the point with both their band name and their music. With nothing more than a simple ‘hello’, they jumped right into the set with an intro on the guitar. As the show progressed, the intensity augmented continuously without them having to say a word. Instrumental music is unique in this way – the instruments do all the talking, leaving the listener on their own to discover a song’s meaning. There are no words to guide the story so instead you get to determine it’s fate. My only complaint would be that there were a few moments when the wall of noise they created just sounded a little too intense, and was a bit over the comfortable volume level. A great moment occurred when the band brought out Slow Six violinist Chris Tignor to add into the mix, giving their sound a little something extra. In the end it was a great night of emotion driven instrumental music and a night people won’t soon forget. – Amelia Robitaille

Oh and by the way – our friends at wearepostrock.com are doing a film of the concert, so you can watch it in the comfort of your own home if you missed it the first time. Check out their site in about a week or so!