Cold Cave

For an act that sings about gothic themes such as catacombs and underworld, the cavern of Doug Fir seemed an appropriate venue for Cold Cave. ...
Cold Cave : Live
Cold Cave : Live

Knobs dialed left and right, distorted noise seeps into every chasm of the underground venue.  The audio assault is ephemeral, metamorphosing into catchy melodies and dance pop beats – one of many opposing traits that seem to emanate from Cold Cave.

Not so much a musical band but more of a conceptual project for Wesley Eisold, the nomadic soul behind Cold Cave surely will continue to evolve, transform, and contradict.  Released in spring, Cherish the Light Years has a distinctive identity of its own from its debut, Love Comes Close.  The second LP emphasizes powerful wailing over subtle crooning to express the pang, and favors accessible melodies over experimental noise.  Still, one thing remains the same – the marks of Eisold’s soundtrack from his formative years.  Cold Cave fits comfortably in between The Cure and Front 242, with results not too far off from Robert Smith singing with The Japanese Popstars.

For an act that sings about gothic themes such as catacombs and underworld, the cavern of Doug Fir in Portland, OR seemed an appropriate venue for Cold Cave.  Unfortunately, the basement joint’s wood theme décor did not mesh too well.  The projections accompanying the performance got lost in the swirly strips the venue had installed a year ago.  Now and then, you could catch a face or shape of a nameless plant, but at least the indiscernible images broke up the venue’s atrociously flat and saturated lighting.  Joined by Canada’s breakthrough act, Austra (QRO photos), along with the best band according to Eisold, Dangerous Boys Club, the Friday night lineup provided a dark wave heaven on July 22nd.

While a dark ambience enshrouds Cold Cave through lyrics, the beats and melodies take cue from new wave tradition, saving from eternal gloom and doom.  Judging by diversified audience, Cold Cave’s combination of pop anthems and bleak utopian undertones appealed to more than just despondent tortured souls in black and leather.

Cold Cave

Though only a handful of words were uttered in between songs, Cold Cave’s performance engaged enough that one didn’t miss the occasional banter some audience needs – the acknowledgement from their performer to reassure them that their time and money was well spent.  Keyboardist Dominick Fernow swayed and gyrated as if this was the best dance party of his life, and the usually placid Portland crowd took it as a sign to join in.  Despite sweat beads rolling down continuously on his face, Eisold took no breaks to neither rehydrate nor remove his weighty black leather jacket.  Equally focused on turning the right dials as giving an energetic performance, the former hardcore singer’s attention shifted between operation of his programming board and maximizing the small stage.  Even when a malfunction arose, the New York (for now) band continued without a phase, churning out distorted racket to keep the audience distracted from the men who were scrambling to get all the cables routed and sorted out on stage.

Cold Cave playing “Villains On the Moon” live at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR on July 22nd, 2011:

 

Though Cold Cave’s music heavily relies on keyboard programming, Alex Garcia-Rivera’s drum provided texture and organic edge to bring vivacity to the grand synth pop of Cherish the Light Years.  Perhaps the grandest of them all, “Villains of The Moon”, had a prelude of industrial noise fest for of a minute and half before Garcia-Rivera’s sticks cued in ethereal keyboards.  The gothic “Burning Sage” with heavy, low bass and menacing, spiteful vocals would forever be doomed to darkness.  Supposedly there will be a Cold Cave wine with “Burning Sage” as its name…  The rest of the set shined with electro-pop anthems – quite uplifting at times.  The festively titled “Confetti” with slippery keyboards, had Fernow contorting his body in overdrive.

Cold Cave playing “Confetti” live at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR on July 22nd, 2011:

Cold Cave

Like a dark angel, Eisold loomed over the minuscule stage and lifted the spirits temporarily with his empathetic singing.  On Love Comes Close, the lanky performer suavely crooned in baritone, recalling Richard Butler or David Bowie singing a ballad.  But on this tour, he adopted the wrenching wailing of his latest material even on tracks like “Youth and Lust”, and “Laurels of Erotomania”, where his vocals often got lost among all the layers of synth in the recording, unable to discern older material with the new.  

Closing the night with the supreme pop tune of Cold Cave catalog, “Catacombs”, Eisold found a moment, where he could utter the sentence: “Some people play music because they can not have a conversation.”  In this singer’s case, that motto worked out just fine.

Half past midnight and the last note escaped from Eisold’s vocal chords.  One could say you’ve never seen so many smiling faces emerge from the ‘underworld’.

Cold Cave playing “Catacombs” live at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR on July 22nd, 2011:

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