If you didn't already know, I'm kind of obsessed with going to the Cinemat. So, when I say that last night was one of the best shows I've seen there in a while, that's saying a lot.
Although the show started an hour late with no more than a handful of people standing around chatting, it was worth the wait.
Bloomington based, Vollmar started the night off with Justin Vollmar on vocals and acoustic guitar, and his brother Nathan on drums.
The duo played a very quiet, skin and bones set. Justin especially seemed to have his heart in the music, and sang lyrics like, "have you felt the blues?" Overall, the lyrics were dark and poetic, and were my favorite aspect of the music.
The songs were short and simple, but certainly sweet. Shortly after, they shifted the stage over to Brooklyn's, The Callers.
Callers, a trio who seemed very happy to be playing in Bloomington, started off their set with a pretty interesting song. It featured the lead singer on acoustic guitar, backed by electric guitar and drums. While the electric guitar was dreamy and charming, the lead singer obviously stole the show.
With a voice similar to Cat Power or Fiona Apple, and a biting attitude like PJ Harvey, she truly caught my attention.
After the second song, she never picked the guitar up again, but it really didn't matter. I was completely entranced with her voice, which felt antique and was both folksy and funky. When she sang, you could tell she was truly full of emotion.
"Wire" was their best song of the night, which picked up the speed and strayed away from the sounds of some of their other songs.
Finishing the night was the band I had been waiting all day to see, Here We Go Magic. While the audience stayed seated for the other bands, they stood up for this one.
Although the first song was fantastic, when the first notes of the second song rang out, I felt true excitement ignite inside of me. The song was "Fangela", a track I'd literally been playing over and over again in my car. Although "Fangela" is a truly amazing song on album, it was even better and fuller live; it made me feel very warm and contented.
Just when I thought their set couldn't get any better, it increased exponentially with an epic song, of which I am unsure of the name. The song started off with deep tribal drumming and was built on by spacey keyboard, handclaps, heavy bass, and guitar. The song was truly impressive, and they even invited the drummer and guitarist from Callers to help play drums and tambourine.
The set ended on "Tunnelvision", which is probably their most acknowledged and buzzed about song. I was equally excited to hear that song performed live, and the audience, who finally started to groove, seemed to feel similarly.
The amount of time that they played was perfect and it was amazing to see a band I had been jamming to all week.
If you missed the show, I express my regrets and can only tell you to go buy their debut, self-titled album. It just came out a couple weeks ago!
Cheers,
Katie
All Photos Courtesy of David Ray
