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July 6th, 2008
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Riders on the storm

An uplifting double bill of doom and gloom
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By Darrell Jónsson
For The Prague Post
March 19th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
A rare moment in the sun for the proudly deep and bleak Winchester Club.
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A Whisper in the Noise

The Winchester Club
When: Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30
Where: Klub 007
Tickets: 180-200 Kč, available at the door
Ever since the Byrds plugged Dylan into their transistor amp stacks, rock ’n’ roll has been more than simply a soundtrack at the local sock hop or teenage fast-food watering hole. Here in the Czech Republic, historic rock ’n’ roll voices such as PPU, Kilhets and DG-307 raged against the communist regime’s cultural filter. In the free world, hundreds of rock artists ranging from L.A.’s Doors to Manchester’s Joy Division attempted to create convincing rock ’n’ roll pathos.
These days, depending on one’s personal tastes, such efforts are considered either profoundly classic or shallow nostalgia. Yet there is little retro about the dramatic bands from Germany’s Exile on Mainstream Records who will appear at Prague’s Klub 007 this week. Both groups may tap into visual and musical ideas from times past, but the darkness in their angst is definitely post-9/11.
Headlining the show is Minnesota’s A Whisper in the Noise, which borrows touches of ’90s slowcore and the finessed production values of the United Kingdom’s AD, while echoing a composed melancholy reminiscent of 19th-century composers like Schumann and Chopin. Everything from the band’s Web site to the artwork on its 2007 CD Dry Land emits a quality the group’s producer Steve Albini has described as “pretty, melancholic … and unspeakably sad.”
There are many who may find the psychic undercurrents in AWITN’s sound far more disturbing than the evening news. As the band hails from remote Hanska, Minnesota, it all raises a question: Is there something about this North American region’s past that will never be told in words but is best told in music? To this, the band’s composer West Thordson bluntly answers, “Yes, I would definitely say so.”
AWITN’s stop in Prague on its European “Blisstrain” tour should offer a live musical glimpse of the haunted state that fueled Duluth’s slowcore pioneers Low in the ’90s, and gave birth to the complicated corners of Dylan’s ongoing apocalyptic welt-model.
Opening the evening’s show will be London’s The Winchester Club, whose sound is a little less dour than the headliners, yet shares AWITN’s artful intensity. Sounding as it if were recorded in the galley of a futurist outlaw schooner, The Winchester’s Club’s upcoming release Britannia Triumphant continues to build on the evolving thread of post-rock minimalism. Within all the glorious below-the-deck brooding, band founder Tim Spears rightly suggests other beatific potentials when he says, “On first listen, the music may seem very bleak. But at the same time it is also uplifting and triumphant, and I love the tension between the two.”
Such wide emotional sweeps emerge as the Winchester crew expertly sails rough rock ’n’ roll waters with a nearly symphonic grace. Keeping their stormy vessel from capsizing on the mountainous swells is a unique two-bass guitar section utilizing an electric bow known as the E-bow. This, Spears says, “provides the bass a deeper, fuller sound and gives the impression of a string section.” Combined with this bottom, which alternates between the sounds of cellos and bass bassoons, well-placed random samples mix with ghostly spoken-word passages to enhance the guitar- and drum-driven spell. On tracks like “Britney Sings Lullabies for the Drowning Crew,” and the John Cage-inspired epic “But There Is No Space,” an injured yet victorious feel prevails. Such themes are part and parcel of the CD title, which Spears says was “inspired by a reprint of an old English poster describing a sea battle won by Lord Nelson.”
It was once said that part of early punk-rock’s appeal was its ability to reflect the inner chaos of the listener. These two bands offer a similar, yet more subliminal set of emotions bouncing between the audience and the music. AWITN’s post-rock finds charm in being about as icy and gloomy as rock music can get, while Winchester Club’s appeal is in weathering the storm with a steady, wizened resolve.
Unless you’re comfortable in ballet slippers, you may want to leave your dancing shoes at home. Yet this concert promises to be as beautiful as it is thought-provoking. To provide an even more dramatic backdrop, each band is reportedly packing video art to accompany their live performances.

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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