Friday night I caught the Autumns at Spaceland, a venue that I really appreciate for its intimacy and smaller social spaces in addition to a great curtain adorned main space. On this night there was a sizeable crowded, a good showing for them, especially given that they played a show at Spaceland last month. Though the Autumns have not been particularly prolific in recent years, their highly regarded debut full length debut ‘Angelpool’ established a dedicated fanbase, especially in Los Angeles, that remains faithful even through the recent lean years of production. It should be noted that the band’s initial decision to sign with Risk Records was an ill-fated one and not along after their second release ‘In the Russet Gold of This Vain Hour’, produced by Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, the label collapsed and with it much the records distribution. Since then the momentum from the initial albums and ep’s seems to be more inhibiting than invigorating as the band tries to equal the quality of their debut.
The show Friday did little to recall ‘Angel Pool’ and ‘In the Russet Gold of This Vain Hour’, and shoegazer fans in the audience, myself being one of them, were disappointed to hear that the Autumns have sacrificed the dreamy aural cacophony prototypical of their early work for a more rock oriented format. This seems to be driven primarily by drummer Steve Elkins who cannot seem to resist hitting the drums approximately 100 times a measure. I spent most of the show wishing that he would simply stop playing and interrupting the melodic, lilting falsetto of Matthew Kelly. In concert three years ago at a small venue in Culver City, just after the release of Le Carillon, a 4 song ep, I encountered the band’s resolve to forge ahead after the Risk Records disaster, leaving the first two albums behind with a set of new material driven by the hard drumming of Elkins. In the encore, songs from the early albums had a distinctly different percussive attitude, less anxious, more willing to cede focus to Kelly. Though I cannot confirm whether Elkins played on the earlier albums, I did find that Elkin’s also plays with Glide, a rock band I would liken to Guns & Roses and Soundgarden, it is the four musicians other than Elkin’s that were its originating members.
In the end the talent of the band shown through on tracks like Hush Plain Girls and Slumberdoll, producing a dense wall of sound so thick if seemed tangible. As a stand-alone performance, the concert was good, but tempered against previous albums, not achieving the promise of their earlier work.
: The Autumns - Juniper Hill :
: The Autumns - Embracing Winter :
