As weekend stretched into early weekday morning, Efrim Menuck and accompanying synthesist Kevin Doria (Growing) closed out Up Here to diminishing numbers as they set upon the Townehouse Tavern with a trio of 20-minute drone suites.
Working outward from the reduced coiling drone that guides Pissing Stars's "LxOxVx Shelter In Place," they paid no mind to a bar crowd that talked loudly in the background, nor the audience immediately in front of them, labouring under spell of stoicism, Menuck repeating lines and looping select lyrical fragments ad nauseum, the quivering unease of his broken, naked vocals amplified by repetitions and penetrating volume, hypnotizing ears that would align themselves with the frequencies while others unable to stomach the anxious spells distanced themselves.
As trains in the shipyard across the street further deepened their harsh landscapes with a cold industrial clamour in the final act, Menuck concluded the triptych with a parting mantra ("We should all be eaten by wolves"), speedily powered down his fortress of amps, and disappeared into the night.
Working outward from the reduced coiling drone that guides Pissing Stars's "LxOxVx Shelter In Place," they paid no mind to a bar crowd that talked loudly in the background, nor the audience immediately in front of them, labouring under spell of stoicism, Menuck repeating lines and looping select lyrical fragments ad nauseum, the quivering unease of his broken, naked vocals amplified by repetitions and penetrating volume, hypnotizing ears that would align themselves with the frequencies while others unable to stomach the anxious spells distanced themselves.
As trains in the shipyard across the street further deepened their harsh landscapes with a cold industrial clamour in the final act, Menuck concluded the triptych with a parting mantra ("We should all be eaten by wolves"), speedily powered down his fortress of amps, and disappeared into the night.
