Boris and Young Widows @ The TLA.

May 6, 2013

by gwmiller3

Text and images by Chad Sims.

I made it into the TLA just in time to see the beginning of Young Widows set on Friday. The room was near black except for a few lights by the bar. I wondered if the entire show would be cloaked in darkness. Then the flood lights built into the bands custom guitar cabinets ignited an assault of luminosity.

Young Widows are an incredibly hard band to classify and after seeing them live it isn’t any easier. The crowd justifiably seemed perplexed with how to behave during this band’s set. The music is crushingly heavy yet sparse and introspective. The band’s sound rest atop polyrhythms pounded out by the drummer and bass player while the guitarist provides texture and most of the vocals on top.

Young Widows vibe seems to be about extreme contrasts, but the problem was that they seem to rely on the same contrasts for the whole show. They didn’t really do much on stage and by the end of the set it was starting to get tiresome starring at flood lights that only shut off once or twice for effect.

For a band with as unusual a sound as Young Widows they would do well to give the audience some more visual cues as to what they are attempting to create.

While I had seen Boris in the past, I was not sure what to expect from their show either. This time around they were touring as a trio which is not always the case as they often bring along guest musicians.

The last time I experienced Boris they had much more of raucous punk thing going on, but this time they were leaning far closer to their doom tendencies. They played some rock and pop numbers but by and large this show was about the epic sonic creations of which the band is capable.

Boris has been around since 1992, and has dozens of releases. They often release different version of the same albums on vinyl versus CD and separate versions in different countries. While some may find this practice annoying, it has created a huge discography. Given the sheer number of songs in their catalog they can’t even make a dent in a single show but at this show they managed to give a representative sample.

In an almost exact counterpoint to Young Widows, Boris used a simple but effective light show to bring the audience on a journey through the unexpected and possibly confusing land that is their music.

Next time Boris comes to town do yourself a favor and check them out. Even if their music isn’t your cup of tea, they offer an amazing experience that almost any music fan can appreciate.