Words: Kim   Photos: Derek

“Pulled together but about to burst apart”

I confess it: I went to this show an enthusiastic fan of the Antlers. They won me over on my first listen to their lyrically dense, disarmingly intimate Hospice. Lead singer and principal poet Peter Silberman shared his deepest secrets with us, his appreciative listeners - his enthusiastic stranger-confidants. On the other hand, I knew “Explosions in the Sky” only from those brief moments when their compositions graced the ever-graceful scenes of Friday Night Lights. And I didn’t even know their name.

Before we headed out to the show, I thought I’d do a bit of research to fill in my hipster-gaps. When I did, I had a few surprises. First: the Antlers were the opening act; Explosions was headlining. Second, Explosions was an instrumental rock group. Instrumental rock? Yep. Third, the show was sold out.

Listening to the Antlers again – particularly their latest album, Burst Apart – in the context of Explosions’ FNL-type pieces, I could hear a melodic convergence between the two bands. The night’s performance could prove interesting: the Antlers’ wordiness would balance out Explosions’ wordlessness; haunting melodies would connect the two performances into a balanced whole.