I found myself at DB’s in Utrecht again last
night. The poster on the door read “Mars Red Sky + Howart,” so I went inside.
Beer could be ordered in the back and to my surprise they had some nice ones
imported from Germany on the ready. With my head still at Desertfest Berlin, I
laid down some coins, got beers in exchange and went inside the venue where it
was warm like my grandparents’ house on Christmas Eve.
Support for the stoner-psych headliners took the
form of a local band named Howart. They played a set that felt like the
shortest thing I’ve ever seen, but once the band left the stage and I looked at
the clock, it turned out I was sorely mistaken. They played dreamy passages of
psychedelic pop that passed a baton back and forth from hard and slow to spacey
and even slower. The sound of the drums filled up most of the space, resembling
an arena sound without being cheesy, and kept the songs grounded as the
guitars, samples, and even harmonicas tried to detach themselves and float
away. The music completely enveloped my being, distorting my sense of time and
space.
It didn’t take long after Howart’s set before
Mars Red Sky came on. There wasn’t much of a crowd to speak of, at most forty
people, so I guess the band felt that there was no sense in making us wait.
This informal environment worked in the band’s favor; the tickets were priced
right to avoid any unreasonable expectations and the small crowd kept things
laid back. Mars Red Sky aren’t one of the front runners in the scene and
probably won’t be found on a larger stage in Holland anytime soon, but that’s
more our fault, the listeners of music, than theirs as professional mind
blowers. Personally, I think that Julien Pras and his cronies deserve a
larger setting to give their heavy, fuzzy tones the room they need to breathe.
They have their sound worked out to the finest detail and certainly in these
small venues, it‘s just bursting at the seams. So when Mars Red Sky opened
their set with wah-filled conviction and intricate interplay which made me
think, “Oh, that’s how they do that,” it was all the more rewarding.
The instrumental opening served its purpose, but
I was there for the songs with singing in them. For me that meant that the set
really got going once “Hovering Satelites,” the leadoff single from “Stranded
in Arcadia,” kicked in. Though I thought Pras shared vocals with bassist Jimmy
Kinast on this song, such vocal harmonizing was left out of their live
execution. Instead, Julien opened his throat wide and let the notes soar as he
sang “we’re but hovering satellites, stuck and high on some blinding light.”
What came as a surprise, however, was the reticent vocal harmony that Pras and
Kinast pulled out of their pockets for “Marble Sky.” This was a thing of sheer
psychedelic bliss; from stage right the lower register delivered with swing and
from stage left the higher notes coming in like Pras was sharing a secret with
us.
All secrets aside, there was nothing subtle
about the band’s set. They were heavy from beginning to end, even in the quiet
snare roll part of “Strong Reflection.” Mars Red Sky put their control of sound
on display and defined being quietly heavy. Whether it was the recurring
Beatles-like interlude in “Join the Race,” the push and pull of “Holy Mondays”
or the slow trudge of “The Light Beyond,” the band exhibited a set which
encapsulated the draw of Mars Red Sky. They were in a flow and took us on a joy
ride through space. There was only one downside and that was that I had to
leave early to catch my last train home. I did so with lead in my shoes, so let’s hope they come
back soon.
Thanks to the band for letting me take some
blurry photographs and also thanks to Claire from Purple Sage for getting me on
the list
Words
by:
Victor Van Ommen
