Live Review: Blonde Redhead at Terminal 5 [1.19.08]

My first impression of Terminal 5 – the three packed levels rendering the stage visible for just moments through the moving gaps between bobbing heads, the PA system so muddy the cabinets sounding submerged in water – did not provide high hopes for the upcoming performance. Strangely, this ended up being possibly the most ideal venue for a Blonde Redhead show, a band that I for one have only been able to understand in glimpses.

With their lyrical fragments, baroque-meets-dance sensibilities, and hazy washes of reverb-laden guitar, they don't make things very direct in the typical songwriting sense. The struggle to permeate the murkiness of their songs could be why people often connect so deeply to their music, and Terminal 5's poor audio only heightened that. The group sounded as though playing from the bottom of a well. Possibly a well on the early 19th century countryside amidst galloping horses.

The low visibility aided the character of the performance as well; Kazu would for a moment look like a gracefully possessed witch, then become obscured. Brief crowd banter was nearly inaudible. The majority of 23's songs were played without pause, their cyclical chord progressions melding together and weaving through subtly juxtaposed time signatures, all through a cloud of some distant yet intense, singular emotion. It was a performance that proved to be as enigmatic if not moreso than their albums, truly the best way for them to be heard.

[photo courtesy of Blonde Redhead's official site]