Brooklyn-based indie synth-pop band Nation of Language, returned to the High Noon Saloon in Madison Oct. 16, touring following the release of their latest album “Strange Disciple.”
The small venue was initially sparsely crowded when the opening act, Miss Grit, shuffled onto the stage. With little separation between the artists and us in the front row, there was a sense of intimacy to the experience.
Watching as the artist and stage crew came out and set up, seeing Miss Grit pull up the tracks on a laptop to play them directly through her digital audio workstation and hearing the conversations between audio engineers as they adjusted levels makes one feel a certain connection to the musicians — a brief feeling of peeking behind the scenes.
Musically, Miss Grit was one of the most interesting things I had heard in a while at the synth-pop scene. The soundscapes of synths typical of the genre were punctuated with rocking guitar solos, the kind of beat switches that typify my favorite hip hop songs and different vocal cadences that allowed me to move past my annoyance with whisper-singing.
It wasn’t exactly the most electrifying performance — Miss Grit was rooted to the spot and moved businesslike between songs without crowd work — but my rock-the-crowd sensibilities could not take away from the talent and craft displayed by her music and it was a great introduction to an interesting artist.
The main event, Nation of Language, was electrifying and completely unlike their album listening experience. Their music, characterized by bouncy bass and synth lines complemented with sad, distant, reverb-dripping vocals has always been a chill listening experience for me — so when they hit the stage hard and fast with their opening track “Spare me the Decision” I barely recognized it. Booming out their drums to a chest shaking level, they drew the crowd into the high-tempo beats that feel hidden in their lovesick and spacey studio sound.
The band brought energy to match. Frontman Ian Richard Devaney bounced forward and back up the stage, never letting himself settle into the ground for a second, his movement was so floaty and rhythmic it felt like watching an indie-rock Prince Naseem Hamed. Keyboardist Aidan Noell and bass guitarist Alex MacKay also brought the energy dancing and bopping along to the beats.
As they worked their way through their unexpectedly banging setlist, including highlights like “Too Much Enough” and “Weak in Your Light,” they took time to engage with the crowd, chatting with the front row and bantering with one another.
After faking an end to the concert, the band rushed back out to the stage to complete their setlist, closing triumphantly with their hit track “Fine Line.” Nation of Language left me with nothing but positive things to say about their live work.
Jeremiah Frodl/The Badger Herald
