Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Friday, December 15, 2006
“We’re recording this show, so don’t say ‘you suck’ a lot,” warned lead guitarist/vocalist Woody Ranere as Lake Trout took the stage. As a sort of orchestral intro, the band meandered from tuning to a drum-heavy improvised rock piece, giving each instrument a chance to warm up while setting the tone for the set. From that moment, all anxiety disappeared from their faces and their collective intention became clear—to rock, and rock hard. They pushed right into a highly distorted version of “Riddle” from their most recent album, Not Them, You.
“Piece That’s Mine” resonated well with the audience, which erupted at the start of this favorite from Lake Trout’s 2003 release, Another One Lost. The deep, dark distortion of guitar and bass provided an excellent complement to the dreamy, echoing vocals which Ranere sung with a smirk. As the song progressed, they improvised, building with repetition into a brief, groovy section that was slightly reminiscent of their earlier jam days, before they found their present home in more established song structure. This was clearly an improv of a whole new era. Though we know the post-modern indie rock Lake Trout of today isn’t the same jungle-jam Lake Trout of yesteryear, this song exemplified how they can still draw from tendencies of their past and project them onto the sound they portray today. They guided the jam right into “New Thing,” a hard, fast, almost punk-like crowd favorite that was met with whistles and shouts mimicking the screams of keyboardist Matt Pierce.
A few songs later they broke out with a dark yet upbeat adaptation of The Cure’s “A Forest,” with Pierce on vocals in between covering the riffs on flute. Other covers peppered the set, as a version of Helmet’s “Unsung” brought many fists pumping into the air before the band eased into a version of their own crowd-pleasing “Stutter,” capitalizing on the energy of the previous song. Next, the band built up the audience’s anticipation with an extended intro into “Say Something.” As a yearning “I can’t stop / I won’t stop” poured out of Ranere, the crowd answered with their heads banging to the beat.
During the lively yet sinister instrumental “#2,” which has flute interspersed between bursts of distortion, Ranere let the crowd know that “the smoke machine is retired,” reminiscing about Lake Trout’s last appearance at the Mercury Lounge when an overly excited smoke machine set off the smoke detector, bringing the fire department in and sending band and audience outside.
After a version of the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation,” a classic illustration of Lake Trout’s tendency toward slightly shoe-gazing lyricism and distorted instrumentals, they blasted into a rocking, high-energy version of “Bliss.”
To end the set they burst from a standard indie-rock piece into a particularly hardcore version of “Let Me Show You What I’m Used To,” sending the crowd into a frenzy and inciting a near mosh pit in the front rows. With Pierce screaming vocals over extremely loud, raging instrumentals, this song provided the perfect set closer as a juxtaposition to the ambient section to come, as if to say “we have finished rocking.”
Or had they? After a brief pause to thank the crowd for coming out, the band members all took a seat for the ambient set, which turned out to be more of an extended encore than a full set. The lights went out to capture the mood for the quiet, Pink Floyd-esque “Keep Your Eyes Shut” from Not Them, You, with Ranere on slide guitar. This song paved the way for a loud, distorted improvised tune, proving that as far as Lake Trout is concerned, ambient means only instrumental and not at all mellow.
By this time the crowd had cleared out significantly, leaving room for only the hardcore to dance (apparently those who left had not yet checked their Lake Trout dictionary). The last improvised movement of the set started out seemingly innocent, with a quiet, soft buildup, before leading into a brief yet deep, nasty rock explosion of drums and keys. Soon after, Pierce and bassist James Griffith stepped off the stage, leaving just Ranere, rhythm guitarist Ed Harris and drummer Mike Lowry, who still produced a fiery, powerful sound until one by one they all left the stage to end the show.
For a band that has produced albums marking many new phases in its musical career, it was important for Lake Trout to record a show like this to document a significant position in their evolution. They have grown far from their jungle-jam days to a progressive indie-rock band whose shows have not lost energy or innovation, but gained song structure while still holding onto their improvisational roots. It’s hard for a Lake Trout fan not to wonder, where will they go next?
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