Self-styled “Swedish captains of post-punk” Then Comes Silence would have been forgiven for thinking that 2020 was not going to be their year, having released their fifth and most polished album, Machine, to rave reviews on the very day (13th March) that Europe collectively began to enter lockdown, diverting attention from the stunning and long-awaited follow-up to Blood and stalling live shows indefinitely. But far from licking their wounds, the band knocked out a couple of well-received “quarantine” covers, put on a professionally shot live streamed full concert from an empty Stockholm club, and then set about building a new rehearsal room in their home city.
To celebrate the latter’s completion, dynamic band leader
Alex Svenson typically decided not to rest on his laurels but to showcase the
band’s talent in two further live gigs from the new space, this time with a
small audience present, giving many goth and post-punk fans their first (albeit
primarily online) experience of the atmosphere of a live gig in six months.
Unlike the May concert from the Hus 7 venue, the band chose
the setlists themselves this time around, and the first concert last night (the
second is live streamed tonight at 9 p.m. CET or 8 pm UK time) featured a judicious
selection of songs spanning their entire career, with at least two tracks from
each album given an airing last night.
A svelte-looking Svenson lead the band through the opener There’s A Sound from the 2012 debut album, a period from which he is the only surviving member. It was immediately apparent that the acoustics in the band’s rehearsal space was even better than those of Hus 7, with crystal clear sound perfectly translating the band’s mix of power and subtlety in a live setting.
The singer, eschewing his trademark “raccoon” eye make-up,
was clearly eager to get the gig off to a flying start, so much so that he came
in a couple of bars too early with his opening vocal line “Like a moth..” in
the next song, Glass, from the current album, a song being heard by most
fans in a live context for the first time.
After briefly welcoming the small audience and the worldwide
goth diaspora to the gig, the band ripped through two of the more powerful
tracks from Blood, this blog’s album of the new millennium thus far, Warm
Like Blood and The Dead Cry For No-One, eliciting an enthusiastic
response from the cognoscenti present, and prompting the bass-playing singer to
reflect, “It’s good to hear some cheering.” It’s been a while.
If Svenson and energetic drummer Jonas Fransson and his illuminated kit had been the visual and sonic focus of the opening few tracks, guitarists Hugo Zombie and Mattias Ruejas Jonson increasingly came to the fore over the next few songs, trading solos, riffs and chops with perfect synchronicity as they complete their second year together in the band since joining during the extensive touring that followed the release of Blood.
The angular, dream-like Can’t Hide from the band’s
second album (the imaginatively-titled Then Comes Silence II) was
followed by another early song, Whispering About You, with a full-bearded and
heavily tattooed Ruejas Jonson resplendent in a Date At Midnight t-shirt bent
double over his guitar as he pummelled out another punishing riff, whilst the
visually stunning Hugo Zombie, with a The Damned patch pinned to the front of the
waistcoat his impeccable Lords of The New Church/Johnny Thunders leather and
studs attire, momentarily stopped his usual perpetual motion to crank out the
key solo on crowd-pleaser Spinning Faster, which like several other
songs featured Ruejas Jonsson on backing vocals (along with drummer Fransson on
occasions).
Recent single Apocalypse Flare was next up and was
particularly well received to Svenson’s delight (“Thank you, you’re so sweet”),
and another track from the new album (Cuts Inside) got an airing before the
band wheeled out animated versions of the big singles from 2015’s essential
breakthrough Nyctophilian album, Strangers and Animals. Svenson
confessed to the fans gathered at the front of the stage that he was doing his
best to keep them safe – “I try not to spit when I sing but it’s hard,” before
announcing the final song of the main set, “the oldest song by Then Comes
Silence,” Slowly Dragging You Down, which as usual became an excuse for
the band to showcase their musical virtuosity in an unhinged run-through the
bone-crushing melody.
After, the shortest of breaks, the band was back on the
small stage with sticksman Fransson announcing “Damon [film crew director Damon
Zurawski] wants another one so we do another one!”, and the band ripped into
the lead single from Machine, We Lose The Night, before deciding
to treat the physical and virtual fans to one final song (“Let’s do one more”),
the shoulder-shimmying alternative dancefloor classic Strange Kicks from
Blood.
The band would clearly have loved to continue playing, but Svenson joked “We have to save something for tomorrow!” with Fransson adding “Tomorrow we will play a completely different set”. Already established at the forefront of the current goth/post-punk revival, with their accomplished musicianship and commitment to high professional standards in every aspect of the project, Then Comes Silence and their support crew have further raised the bar with this stunning live set, whetting the appetite even more for tonight’s second instalment.
Donations to offset the cost of the high quality livestream show can be made here.
A recording of Thursday's live stream can be viewed here. The show starts about ten minutes in.
You can follow Friday night's show via links on the band's Facebook page.
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