Live Review: Lymbyc Systym at Union Hall [Brooklyn, 09.06.07]

(Photo by surako, from Flickr.com; Tokyo, Japan)

I always have trouble reviewing instrumental rock bands. I think I called the Sigur Ros concert “a birthing process” or some such nonsense a while ago. While most likely a bit annoying to the uninitiated reader, the good thing about this propensity for hyperbolic descriptions when writing about instrumental bands is that it truly shows how much I either loved or detested it. Please keep this in mind, as Lymbyc Systym is going to fall into the first category.

Lymbyc Systym, made up of brothers Jared (keys) and Michael (drums) Bell, know how to rock and the next time they play a venue near you I recommend checking it out. On Thursday night at Union Hall, they played a series of songs from their recent release, Love Your Abuser, but minus the help of other musicians (or perhaps some elements of the music from their record were just lost in the speakers). While I was disappointed that there were no string parts, the Bell brothers made up for it by blowing me away with the raw intensity of their sound. While I have often compared Lymbyc Systym to fellow Rhodes piano enthusiasts The Album Leaf, the show on Thursday proved me wrong. There was something far less self-constrained in their playing, and it was awesome.

Part organic geologic soundscape and part melodic aurora, the balance struck between the different aspects of their sound is amazing. The music Lymbyc Systym creates encompasses both the productive and destructive energies of the natural world: loud crashing drums and cymbals, dissonant piano chords, parenthetically surrounded by pauses and harmonic key solos. The self-description on their Myspace page of Sounds Like: “warm ice” definitely fits. Well, more like “glacial melting”. Lymbyc Systym is much louder and more intense than I had anticipated. Michael bangs away on the drum set like he’s trying to knock it over, and Jared somehow manages a three-tiered deck of keyboards without hitting a wrong note. Especially on their final song (“Love Your Abuser”), which is a particularly intense song and which also exemplifies the elements of geologic progression more perfectly than any other song on their album, when they were joined by vocalist/guitar and trumpet players from The One AM Radio. If you have any sort of fondness for instrumental rock of the loud atmospheric sort, this is one band you should definitely look into.

That said, this review should definitely include a bit about The One AM Radio, as both Bell brothers also play in it. However, these two bands are extremely different. The One AM Radio is much more of an indie band, with lyrics and guitars and such. As for the live show on Thursday, my impression is that the band members have their genres confused and the vocalist, Hrishikesh Hirway, would do much better to step out of whatever bedroom band/shoegazer concept he has going on and accept that he really wants to be a rock star. Mr Hirway has a voice to rival Ben Gibbard’s, if only he had the confidence to embody it with soul. His lyrics are also quite competent, but as they lacked most of the heartfelt energy they needed to soar, they tended to fall a bit flat. I am going to keep an eye on this band, Hrishikesh Hirway in particular, and hope that confidence finds its way into his throat soon.

The show was opened by Canada's Montag (Antoine Bédard), who plays a solo show of fun, funky electronic stuff. He even sings in French sometimes!

(PS - Sorry no live shots yet, my camera battery died!)