Saskatoon five-piece indie rock band Slow Down Molasses performed a short and bombastic set that saw the members taking turns on various instruments and sharing vocal duties, to differing degrees of success. Their live set tends to drown out any sense of the original recorded material, making it difficult to discern their lyrics and arrangements. Their live performance ticks can also be quite distracting, with a somewhat ridiculous amount of kicking and lifting guitars up in the air to add a layer of false complexity to some pretty simple instrumentation.
Whereas on record they perform a nice blend of shoegaze, pop and rock with pretty harmonies and pleasant strings, their live set sees the five-piece try their hand at noise rock, making it nearly impossible to recognize the original material, ultimately proving a detriment to the whole experience. Still, every time the band would scale it back slightly, one could catch glimpses of the type of performance they're capable of, such as on a promising slow number reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen. The fact that most of the members performed with their back to the crowd certainly didn't help, giving the impression they were too self-impressed to realize they were performing for others. But if they can work out these kinks and concentrate on engaging the audience instead of themselves, they have the potential to be a great live band instead of a mildly appealing one.
Whereas on record they perform a nice blend of shoegaze, pop and rock with pretty harmonies and pleasant strings, their live set sees the five-piece try their hand at noise rock, making it nearly impossible to recognize the original material, ultimately proving a detriment to the whole experience. Still, every time the band would scale it back slightly, one could catch glimpses of the type of performance they're capable of, such as on a promising slow number reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen. The fact that most of the members performed with their back to the crowd certainly didn't help, giving the impression they were too self-impressed to realize they were performing for others. But if they can work out these kinks and concentrate on engaging the audience instead of themselves, they have the potential to be a great live band instead of a mildly appealing one.
