Priests played Great Scott – 2/5
D.C. punks Priests headlined Great Scott last Saturday in support of their excellent new record Nothing Feels Natural, with support from Baltimore’s Snail Mail and Boston’s Halfsour.
Priests first caught my eye with their fiery set supporting Ought at The Sinclair last year. I see a lot of opening bands, and rarely does one make an impression on me the way that they did. Led by magnetic vocalist Katie Alice Greer, the quartet had both an immediately engaging sound and a totally engrossing live presence. Even watching them play for 20 minutes, whatever buzz I’d heard about them (and then some) felt justified.
The EP they were touring at the time, 2014’s Bodies and Control and Money and Power, is a quality blast of political art-punk, and last month’s debut LP follow-up is even better. Nothing Feels Natural‘s 33-minute runtime scans as a less furiously-paced version of a band that’s ultimately no less furious. The outraged commentary that Greer filters through a dark sense of humor collides with both creeping post-punk unease and a strangely addictive melodic sensibility in an end result that’s an easy frontrunner for 2017’s best record so far.
Of course, the live show didn’t disappoint either. In a succinctly decimating set, Priests ripped into a sizable chunk of the new record and B+C+M+P standouts (concluding with “Doctor,” which might still be their best song) with supreme confidence. The band was a kinetic whirl – Greer and guitarist G.L. Jaguar in particular – and a thrill to watch. Go see them. Priests are the future.
Locals Halfsour opened the night with a fun set of jagged power pop, while touring partners Snail Mail soothed us in between with guitar tones of the dreamier variety.
Nothing much to report on the photography front; Priests are incredibly fun to shoot, though it’s definitely harder to do at Great Scott than it was at Sinclair last year. Results below.
