Earth – The Scala, London – 12/4/11
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Drawing completely on prejudices that have to do with the looks of a man and knowledge of the social circles moved in by people who have record collections like his, Dylan Carlson doesn’t look like the kind of person you’d expect to hang out with lots of members of the opposite sex. Blowing such lazy preconceptions out the water however, his band Earth prove that quite the contrary is in fact the case.
Though his group have survived many a hiatus and line up change, tonight at The Scala, Carlson’s the only fella on the stage. He clearly hangs out with these three ladies a lot, too – whilst they’re slower a Stewart Lee yawn, they’re also rehearsed to the point of perfection. There might be seemingly whole minutes in between beats, but when they arrive, they’re so precisely on time you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the product something mechanical rather than human.
Yet Earth are a band extremely personally involved in their music. The sound made by this quartet of a guitar, bass, drums and cello is slow enough that the uninitiated ear would be forgiven for concluding that there’s no structure to it at all (“Nobody believes me when I tell them this one’s a waltz – but it is” offers Carlson before one particularly lackadaisical number), but squint a little whilst gazing in their direction and you start to ponder whether they’re playing slowly simply because they like pondering on the meaning of each and every note. Yet far from making them seem distant, their involvement in their own music is somehow extremely engaging.
When they’re not in the process of actually playing you any music (much of which tonight is lifted from new fine LP Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I and the equally excellent The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull), Earth are in the business of making it seem as if there’s nothing special about what they do all. Stage banter is utterly dry, save for handily pointing out which record a tune comes from when it was recorded, and who’s playing on it, Carlson only engages with his adoring crowd by selling his own merch prior to the gig, in a laudable showing of no airs or graces whatsoever. Whilst many of the musicians he’s inspired - most notably the cloaks and smokes of Sunn O))) – might thrive on mystique, Dylan Carlson is a man who connects on as memorable a level simply because he keeps things down to... well, you get it.
Artists in this article: Earth
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