Los Angeles – “You just have to see them live to appreciate them” is an ever-common prerequisite when introducing a friend/relative/stranger to a band you love. It serves as slight insurance, a safety-valve if you will, in case said person quickly dismisses the tunes emanating from the speakers. For some artists, a strong live show has a way of masking homogeneity or deficiencies in songwriting. The energy of the crowd and forgiving live acoustics can dull the issues that are more glaring on the recorded product. While fans of Ought may have issued the same warning to their peers when sharing More Than Any Other Day or Sun Coming Down, this is not an example of a cathartic stage presence boosting weak songs. Instead, this is a case of a band’s live show pulling nuggets of difficult-to-discern sonic depth from their complex, miles-deep songs, all the while riding high on unmuted emotion.
Considering Sun Coming Down came out just a few weeks ago, it is no surprise that the four boys from Montreal spent much of the night focused on their second release for Constellation Records. That being said, there were a few choice nuggets from their self-proclaimed “greatest hits” thrown into the set-list to keep things interesting. The evening got off to a start with the album’s opener, “Men for Miles”. Kicking off with a Dismemberment Plan-esque keyboard flourish care of Matt May, it quickly picked up momentum for the fists-in-the-air refrain. While all of the players were top-notch, drummer Tim Keen stood out, flawlessly executing the band’s quirky time-signature-shifts and guiding their off-kilter song structures.
Ought kept beginning of their set in line with the track list; like on Sun Coming Down, after “Men for Miles” came “Passionate Turn.” One of the slowest tracks on the album, performed live it sped up several dozen BPMs. Turning into a quasi-punk ballad, the “passionate” song suddenly had enough drive to get audience members bouncing along with lyrics that pondered depression and isolation. After this point the band took a slight turn, revisiting one of the best tracks from their debut, More Than Any Other Day. “The Weather Song” began as a pinging, bouncing pop-rock cut with guitars and keyboards popping up around each other, quickly transitioning into its galloping post-punk chorus. The slow-growing energy in the venue reached a head at this chorus, with the more bold concert-goers stirring up a whirlpool of bodies and fingers-in-the-air, along with mostly vain attempts at crowd-surfing.
Following “The Weather Song”, lead singer and guitarist Tim Darcy kindly asked that, despite the great energy, audience members refrain from shoving each other around – his strong logic being that kind of crowd violence pushes smaller people to the periphery, hampering the experience for most in attendance. Considering the band had the audience in the palm of their hand at this point, it is no surprise that nobody dared to push another soul for the rest of the night. Ought ventured into their back catalogue only twice more, with “Around Again” and its fitting line of “We have reached the intermission / And the Lord is in attendance” appearing at the set’s midway point.
The clear highlight of the night (and of Sun Coming Down) is the epic “Beautiful Blue Sky”, a lilting-but-measured track with philosophical lyrical themes and some of the most gorgeously complementary instrumental tracking put to wax. While the song is beautiful on record, it is transcendent live. Standing directly in front of bassist Ben Stidworthy’s speaker, the sheer genius of the bass line stands out in its full glory alongside Darcy chanting a list of modern scourges “War Plane,” “Condo,” “New Development” and banal pleasantries “How’s the family,” “How’s your health been,” “Fancy seeing you here.” Ought is certainly more pop oriented than the rest of the Constellation roster, but moments like these demonstrate how they fit amongst the post-rock and experimental groups they share a label with.
Unsurprisingly, the band forwent an encore. Despite coming close to reaching the pinnacle of underground success, the band is one of the most no-frills acts in the business. They continue their tour this fall, heading eastward through the United States before heading up to Toronto. Following these North American appearances the band heads overseas for dates in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Visit Ought on the Constellation Records page for more information.
Matt Matasci
Latest posts by Matt Matasci (see all)
- The Shelters Perfects Rock and Roll at Bardot - June 30, 2016
- Featured Artist: The Shelters - June 8, 2016
- Andrew Bird Charms Los Angeles with Fiona Apple - May 18, 2016
