Live Review: Font Bring Their Strange Burden to Somerville Alongside Chicago's Lifeguard
The Austin quintet's debut record is out now and it's melting my turntable.
There are two wolves inside of me. One wants to keep Font under wraps so I can keep seeing them in small, upscale DIY-feeling spaces like Warehouse XI. The other knows they’re soon to be playing bigger rooms and would love to see them at Crystal Ballroom or even The Sinclair next time around. But let’s put a lid on it there, yeah? You know like when Alice licks the mushroom so she can grow back to her regular height, but no taller? Alright, alright, perhaps I’m being selfish trying to limit scope here but suffice it to say that last night’s show was an intimate treat that I will likely reminisce on in two years by saying, “Wow, that was an intimate treat.”
Font are a five-piece band from Austin, Texas: Thom Waddill (vocals/guitar/assorted magic), Anthony Lawrence (guitar and electronics), Roman Parnell (bass), Jack Owens (drums), and Logan Wagner (additional percussion hell yes and electronics). You read that correctly: more than one percussionist, so obviously I was bound to tell you about this band at some point. Font’s music is post-punk, dancey art rock, and new wave hanging out on a soul-searching road trip with a lot to talk about. Their debut record Strange Burden just dropped Friday.
Right after I first heard Font a couple months ago, I saw that their tour with Lifeguard (from Chicago) was bringing them to Warehouse XI in Somerville, Mass and I immediately put it on the calendar. A half hour later I got an offer to play a show that would have been the same night and turned it down... I knew I didn’t want to miss this one. Plus, we’re playing Warehouse XI in three weeks and this gave me an opportunity to check it out ahead of time. It’s pretty neat. Nice spacious room with the ceiling at a reasonable height and some suspended acoustic panels that are trying their absolute best. It’s right in Union Square which gives me intense parking anxiety, but it looks like there are some spots near the entrance for bands to load in and out without ending up in right-of-way fisticuffs with an autonomous weed and kombucha delivery hoverbike. I haven’t lived in Somerville for years but I imagine that’s a thing by now.
We got there a bit after 8 and only caught the last couple songs of local opener Awnthay’s set, so I’ll have to catch up there via Bandcamp later. I assumed that Lifeguard would be up next, but I quickly realized it was Font setting up to play second. It was impossible not to recognize Thom from the Hey Kekulé video, which maybe I’ve watched at least five times this week and maybe I haven’t why don’t you back off. I learned that the two touring bands are co-headlining and switching off, which is cool.
Don’t quote me but I thiiiiiink they played everything on Strange Burden last night. At least close to it, if not. I was too busy dancing to keep that kind of documentation here. The set was tight and energetic from start to finish. I hadn’t realized that there was going to be a full percussion-dedicated human live and that was excellent news. Logan played shoeless which is my favorite percussion power move, especially for a player who’s not even using any foot pedals. At that point it’s just a matter of staying grounded for early earthquake detection. I give the percussion 46 out of 49 stars only because there was no vibraslap which I felt was a missed opportunity. I had earlier considered bringing my vibraslap from home because that’s the kind of person I am but my mom always said, “Don’t just go whipping your vibraslap out at shows when you don’t know the band personally yet. You save that for marriage.”
I suppose in some circles, vigilante vibraslap activation could be viewed as a very adversarial maneuver. Valid.
It’s impossible to stand still to this band. I made it maybe two songs before turning to my partner and mouthing “BYE!” as I scooted right up front. I had to engage in some slightly defensive dancing as a person about 2.5 times my size was equally enthusiastic and making lots of sudden movements, but reader rest easy: I did not get stepped on.
It’s always fun to recognize songs I’ve been listening to on repeat being played live for the first time. Hey Kekulé is absolutely my moody summer bop right now, and I can’t get enough of It as well. I discovered this morning that if I bang the silicone-coated part of my spatula on a pan while cooking breakfast and dancing, it makes almost the same exact sound as the effect at the beginning of that song. Looks like I’m ready to go on tour.
The set concluded with Sentence I, another single that preceded the full release. This track feels nearly out of place among the others on the record, but it’s one of my favorites. While Strange Burden presents itself mostly in high-contrast black and white, Sentence I is Big Bird yellow on a red firetruck, speeding around town tossing Mardi Gras beads to passersby. This song is what you would hear at the afterparty following a Minutemen show, Mike Watt sitting at a bistro table on the balcony above the stage with a plate of calamari, one joyful tear in his eye. Plus it has a cowbell. The bass line makes me want to shake my butt while making breakfast, which I did this morning, as previously described.
brb I gotta find my laptop charger…
ok I got it.
Lifeguard were totally new to me but grew on me very quickly. The band looked super young, which also made me happy. It always brings me hope to hear younger players doing something legitimately interesting. Hope for what, I don’t know. Who cares. Just hope. I like it. Young bands probably get tired of everyone getting excited about their ages, but the joke’s on us anyway because they’ll outlive us all.
The Chicago trio - what the fuck, they’re signed to Matador? That’s awesome. Just got distracted trying to find a link here. Okay, yes, confirmed that they’re all teenagers. Asher Case sings and plays bass, joined by Kai Slater on vocals and guitar and Isaac Loewenstein on drums. I’m pretty sure one of their dads was running the merch table because I saw the guy take a cell phone photo at one point and he had that dad stance. You know, the dad stance.
Lifeguard were frenetic and propellant post-post-post-y’know, with flawless stops and starts and killer stage presence. They looked like they’d been doing this for a long time. Asher produced some seriously guru-level feedback-as-an-instrument moments and Kai, playing seated due to a reported foot injury, was lucky he didn’t launch himself onto the floor from the amount of energy he was emitting. The band really constructed a powerful setlist, getting more intense and compelling as it went on. Very glad we stuck around.
iN cOncLUsioN!!! Great bands. Cool spot. All around success.
~RMSC
Thanks for sending these people my way. Great show (and write up)!