Bat House @ Casa del Popolo 17/20/2019
Well regarded in Boston’s DIY scene, Bat House returned to Montreal last Wednesday to play just their second show ever in the city, bringing with them a superbly heavy racket.
Montreal locals YUM provided an excellent aperitif with a lighter, bedroom type of psychedelia that emphasized nimble drum machine beats and graceful basslines.
Songs like “MacReady’s Alienation” featured pleasantly sing-songy lyrics that put you in mind of the Moldy Peaches. “Walsh Marshmellow” vamped along on a dance beat while icy synths played along with the dancing gameplan and “In the Farm Field Fun” sounds like something you’d be happy to find on a long lost Arthur Russell release.
“We’ll dance with you,” one of the members of YUM assured the crowd, an invitation they easily backed up with their music.
Bat House began with “Dream Pipe,” a shifting and shimmering song, with snatches of dreamy melody ringing out like subway announcement chimes above it all. Most of Bat House’s set focused on music since their September 2017 EP Stop Dying.
Their sound felt heavier in person than it sounds on the recorded material, and there were some new songs, not featured on Stop Dying or their 2017 full-length Bat House, “Fuck”, “Phone Filter”, and “Watch,” which seemed heavier and may indicate the band’s desire to go in that direction.
At the very least these new songs suggest we may be treated to a new release from the band in 2019.
The opening guitar on “Doorway” burst out with a squawk, the crunchiness of that guitar offset with mellower elements, all the while underscoring the band’s fondness for odd rhythms and time signatures, and ending with an outro that emphasized their fondness for psychedelia.
“City Proper” starts with chilled out woodblock percussion, accenting the lyrics of “sometimes, I really just don’t care, I’ll survive”… but the song sort of gallops long after that with a lot of interesting vocal interplay. The song worked really well live and is definitely a highlight of their EP.
They’ve kept “Woods” from their 2017 album in the setlist, which proceeds with a chunky bassline and moody guitar work that hangs out in front.
It’s a useful song to have toward the latter part of a performance, drawing back in anyone whose attention may have wained, with its urgent and pulling rhythms.
The band met while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and you can see this reflected in their arrangments, which are more thoughtful and creative than most. Closing out their set with “Toucan,” the wonky yet zippy guitar reminded you this band revels in good old fashioned guitar shredding, but couches it in a context that gives primary credence to interesting song structure. The band has an ambitious vibe to them and I’m certain Montreal hasn’t seen the last of them.
