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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Halifax Pop Explosion Church-going and sonic parfaits

Prepping my bum for a weekend of pew-sitting.

Posted by Allison Saunders on Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 12:07 PM

click to enlarge

Profesh photo of Atlas Sound 'cause shitty blackberry took some shitty photos.

Profesh photo of Atlas Sound 'cause shitty blackberry took some shitty photos.

Forgive me father for I have sinned: up until yesterday it had been like, 361 days since the last time I planted my rear on a church pew. Thankfully I was saved yet again by ol' Pop Explosion, which had me cozied at St. Matt's and completely zoned out by crazy swells of sound last night. The place was packed with a subdued crowd of smartly-dressed folks, and when I say subdued, I mean it in a wholly positive way. There was something strangely hypnotic going on in there. Seriously, I wouldn't have been shocked if we all started chanting or something.

I arrived as local threesome ADO was setting up, and I think that's where the trance began--- with the TV screens on either side of the stage. As the band ripped through their crunchy set of noisy pop songs, the nearly full-house of bobbing heads stared at jolty and colourful Nintendo-y imagery looped on said screens (complements of one of Halifax's funniest, Cheryl Hann). It was super cool! After a really quick changeover came Deerhunter's Bradford Cox AKA Atlas Sound whose (I hate to say it) EPIC one-man show on the pulpit marked his first time in Halifax. With a guitar in hand, a harmonica around his neck and looping pedals that work some mad magic, Atlas Sound bewildered with layers upon layers of sounds and riffs that resulted in some kind of eery symphonic art. It felt like we were just witnessing Cox nerd out, or rather, it felt like we were nerding out with Cox, trying to decipher what was what and how he had created this sonically delicious parfait. The church was perfect for this show. And if you saw anyone zombie-style walking the streets last night at 10:30ish, it’s probably because they left their over-stimulated brains on Barrington Street.