Show Review

This is a review of Straylight Run's performance at the Service Station in Spokane, WA. This is not a review of the entire show of which Straylight Run was but one part. This is not a review of Straylight Run directed at curious first listeners to Straylight Run, because, lets be honest, you've probably heard of them everytime someone mentions Taking Back Sunday (and the link continues).

I begin with a loose definition of what Straylight Run sounds like; slight grooves, and subdued emotion, driven by upbeat drums, accentuated by dual (male-female) vocals. They are an intriguing live act; somewhere between the downpace acoustic stylings of a coffee shop, and the frenzied thrash of post-punk. In some ways, Straylight Run is still riding the wave of online bulletin-board excitement produced by their unmastered self-released demos; they played "Existentialism on Prom Night", unchanged in form since the original recording, heard live it recaptures the raw emotion of that original first recording, not the smooth, overproduced version on their self-titled LP. As a sound, they are undefinable, as good music frequently is; a good sign of creativity.

Curious as a live act, most of Straylight Run's songs are structured in a way that seemingly is not condusive to being played live; unfulfilled crescendos, building to a pace that ends abruptly; such as, "Big Shot (Hands in the Sky)", a song I never imagined I would hear live. As a fan it was amazing and fulfilling to hear and feel, but for the legion of teens surrounding me, the raw constant emotion might have seemed puzzling juxtaposed with Bayside (the headliner), and the post-hardcore act, Four Years Strong, that preceded Straylight Run. Thus was my realization, while I was dancing and grooving in the midst of a motionless mob, Straylight Run's music is blueballing. To elaborate on a crude expression, Straylight Run creates and performs songs that produce an emotion within you, the songs build to a plateau, sustained through the finish of each song, but while the music may stop, the effect is a continued internal emotion within the listener. Wait, isn't that what "emo" was supposed to be? Emo-tional punk?

Playing a mix of songs spanning the breadth of their discography, from the original LP, "For the Best", "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making", "Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs", and I guess "Existentialism on Prom Night", and the EP, "Big Shot", and the newest LP "the Needles the Space" came "Soon We'll be Living in the Future", "The Miracle That Never Came", and "Take it to Manhattan", Straylight Run played a solid set. What else would you expect to hear? I could complain; I could mention Michelle Nolan playing guitar live might have affected the delivery of a single vocal line, or that the set order was somewhat disappointing, or that Michelle first mispronounced "Spokane" (thats, Spo-kan, not Spo-kane), then forget she had played here once before three years ago, or that seeing them play at a subpar, carpeted (who can dance on a rug? not Kevin), venue wasn't awesome. But why create negatives? I merely convey my experience, and relay what happened.

The music was amazing, the roomful of teenagers melted away, leaving merely the gyrating, swaying, foottapping (I never thought about how I would dance to Straylight Run until I realized I was moving) boy and the band onstage. Music for the sake of listening and feeling. Thank you Straylight Run for playing Spokane, thank you John Nolan for showing such facial and vocal intensity, thank you Michelle Nolan for looking just as unassuming, petite, and slightly discomfortable on stage as you do from your press photos, and thank you Will Noon for those nasty drumlines that kept me moving.

review by Kevin Ross