By Andrew Bansal
September 3rd 2016, Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles CA: Chicago, Illinois instrumental trio Russian Circles released their sixth full-length studio album ‘Guidance’ via Sargent House in August 2016 and embarked on a North American headline tour with support acts Cloakroom (first leg) and Helms Alee (second leg), arriving in Los Angeles last Saturday September 3rd 2016 for a sold-out show at the Teragram Ballroom. First landing on our radar with their 2011 album ‘Empros’, Russian Circles became a ‘love at first listen’ band that was even more compelling as a live act, and they kept enhancing their reputation every time they came through town over these past five years, particularly as headliners. Despite this being a busy concert night in the LA area, this Russian Circles gig was a must-attend, and a capacity crowd had put their faith in the band to live up to expectations.
Cloakroom started the show at 9 PM and being the only opener, played for nearly an hour. Based out of Northwest Indiana, this trio played a set of slow, dark ambient tunes that Russian Circles fans were initially more than willing to give a chance to. The Teragram was already packed to near capacity, but as Cloakroom’s set progressed, they seemed to lose the crowd as more and more people migrated to the bars, lobby and smoking patio. Cloakroom were largely underwhelming and although their effort was very much appreciated with kind applause by the audience, they did not succeed in making a notable contribution to this show.
Promptly at 10:15, the house lights dimmed and huge cheers resonated through the Teragram Ballroom as Russian Circles took the stage for a set that comprised 10 songs spanning a 70-minute duration. They began with two ‘Guidance’ tunes ‘Asa’ and ‘Vorel’ and altogether played four from their newest effort along with selections from nearly every other album. The progression and flow of the set is most crucial for an instrumental band like Russian Circles, and any semblance of incompetence in this aspect would be catastrophic. But the trio of Mike Sullivan (guitar), Brian Cook (bass) and Dave Turnctratz (drums) once again proved themselves as experts at the art of setlist composition, choosing a set that presents a sizable portion of the new album, sufficiently revisits past work, and does all of it in a sequence that not only holds the audience’s attention but leaves them wanting more.
Besides the flawless performance and the exemplary tones, Russian Circles also brought their own lighting rig and had the lighting director operate it completely in synch and tune with the music being played. Not that Russian Circles need to ‘put on a show’ to retain and expand their fan-base, but it was refreshing to note that the band is still making a conscious effort to continuously improve their live show and heighten their impact.
Starting with the intro-like ‘Asa’ and ending with the wildly psychedelic ‘Mlàdek’, this Russian Circles set went through a perfect sequence of transitions in patterns, tempo and vibe, and was nothing short of a brilliantly crafted story told through pure sonic expression. ‘Youngblood’ served as an apt encore after a spellbinding main set and put the finishing touches on a set that could be equated to a beautiful painting. The ‘Guidance’ material came across extremely heavy, specially tracks like ‘Vorel’ and ‘Calla’ which were the highlights of the entire set and exhibited such darkness that they could very well be mistaken for something like pre-Heritage Opeth if one was listening to it without knowing what it is. Some of it may even be passed as black metal, sans corpse paint, sacrificial animals and inverted crosses.
Russian Circles is often categorized as ‘post-metal’ and their LA shows invariably draw a demographic of music listeners that most likely aren’t metalheads. Granted some of their material over the years has been shoegazy, but Russian Circles is as progressive, dark, heavy and headbangable as anything else out there, and fans of all things metal are certainly encouraged to give this incredible band a chance, because once you’re a Russian Circles fan, you’re a fan for life.
An awe-inspiring performance by a classy band.
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Russian Circles set list:
01. Asa
02. Vorel
03. Deficit
04. 309
05. Afrika
06. Harper Lewis
07. 1777
08. Calla
09. Mlàdek
Encore:
10. Youngblood
Remaining Tour Dates:
09/05/2016 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
09/06/2016 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad *
09/07/2016 – Englewood, CO @ The Gothic Theatre *
09/08/2016 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room *
09/09/2016 – Chicago, IL @ Metro *
09/23/2016 – Cincinnati, OH @ Midpoint Music Festival ^
09/25/2016 – Detroit, MI @ El Club ^
09/26/2016 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace ^
09/28/2016 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair ^
09/29/2016 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
09/30/2016 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw ^
10/01/2016 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel ^
10/02/2016 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall ^
10/04/2016 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 ^
10/05/2016 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn ^
10/06/2016 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon ^
10/07/2016 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio ^
10/08/2016 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda ^
10/09/2016 – Dallas, TX @ RBC ^
* = w/ Cloakroom
^ = w/ Helms Alee