The surge in electronic music’s popularity has led us into what I think is a bit of a renaissance for making music; it is more accessible than ever with just a laptop and an idea. I think Ear’s performance at Western really exemplified this. The duo hadn’t known each other for very long before they started making music together; they were just two college students who had some really fun ideas for music. They went on stage with nothing but themselves, and a MacBook preloaded with their songs. What drew me into their music initially was their sound selection, ambient and warm sounds they recorded out in the world sampled, chopped up and arranged into sound collages.
Before the concert I spent some time in the line talking to concert goers. It was a diverse cast of people who bought tickets and a sold-out show, so there was no shortage of stories. One of the people I talked to told me about how he vividly remembers riding the bus listening to their first EP Fetish / Valley Serpent. Watching the scenery pass by it was sunny yet brisk, a perfectly idyllic setting for the kind of music. Another person in line told me about how their debut album The Most Dear and The Future became the unofficial soundtrack for their summer camping trip.
When Ear got on, I was standing near the edge of the stage right next to a tower of subwoofers feeling the growly bass in my bones, a really cool and unique feeling I always enjoy but in between songs at one point they asked the audience to, “tweak a little more”. I think the school setting makes it a bit icy and people are nervous and second guess whether it is okay to push and shove and dance. But when they asked the people obliged, pretty quickly it started to look more and more lively. I took that as my opportunity to get into the heart of the crowd the best I could and dance as well. At one point during their song Real Life, I even lost my shoe. A few crowd surfers also made their best attempts in good fun as well.
The concert brought people together in one moment, all hearing the same sounds and moving to the same beat. A thoroughly human experience that fed a very human desire for connectedness made this concert a special one for me.
