Does guitar music still have a relevant purpose in today’s technology-driven world? The art of guitar-soloing heroes from the Naughties to the present has tangled with newfound subtleties and sophistication that has brought a blend of nostalgia and studio production culture to strengthen the appeal. The era of talent has not left us – it’s about what you do with it. Undoubtedly, there are Jimi Hendrices and T-Bone Walkers among us; they are just lost in the Abletons and Korgs that give them the false reality of sounding better than themselves. Fortunately, Canadian post-rockers Do Make Say Think have chosen a route that was cemented in 2000 with their second full length ‘Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord Is Dead’ which demonstrates the ‘get up and do it’ ethos of rock music without actually standing for many of its principles.
In ‘Goodbye Enemy Airship’ they found a blueprint that projects the philosophy of a rock movement (supported by the bulk of Constellation compeers) in a way that the evocation of place and location is at the heart of a musical experience. Tonight feels like a reunion party of mutual enthusiasts and discoverers of Do Make Say Think, common naysayers, and sceptics of Brit Pop. Part of a series of events celebrating Constellation label’s 15th Anniversary, the band take to the stage to perform this fan favourite from start to finish. The sold out Electric Ballroom crowd are keyed up and attentive, focused particularly on their fondest moments. I have particularly lucid memories of listening to this album whilst revising for my GCSE’s and what struck me then was the delicacy and maintained pace. In opener ‘When Day Chokes the Night’, there’s absolutely no urgency in Justin Small’s tensely preoccupied lone guitar, almost working the crowd into a mystic lull as they wait on tenterhooks for the loud bit. The strange static noises and atmospheric ambiences are all there with captivating effect. I’m back in my bedroom writing algebraic formulas.
Math Rock is in the equation as we linger into ‘Minmin’, its infectious rhythm and groove driving the momentum of the evening forward. Dynamic contrasts befit this performing environment perfectly so, as an eerie silence morphs into the irresistible jazzy palette of third track ‘The Landlord is Dead’. A spotlight duet of horns breathes room into the set. Everything is to a tee, which delights pockets of fans around the room. I have always been just a casual fan of Do Make Say Think, so I was a little less enrapt than the revellers that flocked to the front on entrance. ‘The Apartment Song’ holds the attention once again, particularly on the avalanching 3/4 cadences where a few raised fists punch the air, followed by a “fuck yeah” as the music resumes its reserved pensiveness. The jazz influences continue in the persistently addictive and rhythmic ‘All of This is True’. Jazz has this magical capacity to turn even a slow death march into the coolest groove make-over, with its highly possessive vibes allowing sublime harmonics and colours to be liberated. The brooding drum and bass groove in ‘Bruce E Kinesis’ receives the biggest crowd cheer of the evening as the low-end frequencies of the aural spectrum are established. Final song of the album and set, ‘Goodbye Enemy Airship’ combines greater attention to live processing and timbral experimentation, combining the kineticism of drumplay with cerebral textural flourishes of guitar. Do Make Say Think are undeniably magnetic when they are focused, weaving every sonic detail into a visceral pool of rich muddiness, it’s almost tangible.
The music of Do Make Say Think is much about making musical experiences as sentient as any real experience. Returning for a rapturous encore, the band reflect on this thought with the audience as they share their understanding of personal connection with an album, before citing, “We do have five other albums...”. The band then plough through a 5-song encore beginning with ‘Do’ from 2009’s ‘Other Truths’. They unearth some more projects, airbrushed routines of covered ground (‘Reitschule’ from 2002’s ‘& Yet & Yet’, bookended by ‘Auberge Le Mouton Noir’ and ‘Fredericia’ both from 2003’s ‘Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn’), too prosaic to sustain the element of surprise. The rigorous architecture of these songs remind me that rock bands could once hold strong melodic lines and skilful ensemble playing for a lengthy duration. The adept musicianship is all very well, but I craved for more blitz and assault of guitars. The onslaught finally arrives at the end of the night in the form of ‘The Universe’ from 2007’s ‘You, You’re a History in Rust’, one of their most untamed, and undeniably triumphant songs.
Such is the nature of nostalgia – that non-existent condition – controlling the power of our memories to coexist with our emotions of the present, meaning there is a universal truth that nobody gets over anything when confronted with a familiar experience. From the background sounds of chirping crickets to the final enveloping pulses, a moving sense of evocation is felt in every noise and tone of ‘Goodbye Enemy Airship’. Tonight’s event certainly isn’t a canonization of Post-Rock, but it is a fine salute to a classic album that gave some reassurance to the guitar. Before their last exit, the frontmen raise their guitars in a final act of defiance. Guitar music won’t ever become extinct, but what we perceive guitar music to be might well endure radical transformations.
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