The Body and Big|Brave played Middle East Upstairs – 7/8
Two avant-metal greats kicked off their co-headlining summer tour with local support from Glacier.
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I’ve spilled no shortage of digital ink here over the years on both Portland, OR’s The Body and Montreal’s Big|Brave, two enduring luminaries of boundary-pushing heavy music who seem to always be on the road and crossing paths. Earsplitting sludge-doom duo The Body have been at it for two and a half decades now, with spectral deconstructionists Big|Brave making their ascent in the mid 2010s, and they’ve shared stages, shared a label and even collaborated on a dark folk record together. That the bands were teaming up again for a summer trek came as no surprise, but I’m always game for an opportunity to catch them together.
Supporting June’s haunting In Grief or in Hope, Big|Brave were operating in an intriguing new trio format – the first time I’ve ever seen them without a drummer. Bassist Liam Andrews, a former touring member who recorded as part of the band for the first time on the album, joined core fixtures Robin Wattie (voice and guitar) and Mat Ball (guitar and a whole table of gadgetry) for a set that was drone-forward and ethereal, absent some of the cathartic punch of the band’s more percussive iterations, but no less intense and compelling.
The Body, meanwhile, haven’t actually released new music in well over a year – practically a shocking statistic from a band who typically appear to be embracing a new collaborative project on a monthly basis. In their defense, drummer Lee Buford has been busy, playing a very different brand of gig while enjoying the unlikely renaissance of his late-90s twee-emo band Everyone Asked About You. With nothing in particular to promote, Buford and shrieker/guitarist Chip King took the opportunity to dig back in the catalog, airing out some harrowing vintage cuts that pummeled a sold-out room with their singular strain of all-consuming resonance.
Local post-metal crew Glacier have also been a regular fixture of the blog for some years now (even on another Big|Brave show – remember when the Hong Kong had metal gigs?), and they’re always a welcome sight on a bill. With Sea’s Liz Walshak now among their ranks, the five-piece have only upped their game – as thrilling and devastating an instrumental attack as you’ll hear anywhere.
Scroll below for a gallery from the whole evening.
