After releasing two albums as a duo, Dave Harrington and Nicolas Jaar brought in drummer and musical instrument designer Tlacael Esparza to join as a permanent member of the band in 2022 and their newest album Nothing represents the first time they've released new music as a trio. With their expanded line-up and new material that was developed out of long jam sessions between the musicians, the band hit Brooklyn Steel this weekend and gave New York City a long-overdue show that blew minds and melted faces. Putting fan's patience to the true test, the band emerged on a stage covered in smoke and a soft orange hue as they slow started to build a jam over a long, slow-burning intro that creeped along at a snail's pace, setting up for a release that would combine spectacles of lights and allow the members on stage to reveal their talents all in their own time. The slow crawl of "Golden Arrow" from their debut was an incendiary kick-off to the night as it oozed like lava at a meticulous pace before blossoming into a mind expanding result. The trio was locked in tight for just over an hour and a half, their detailed styles never falling out of step and their restrained persistence allowed for them to create meticulously crafted works of art that would all reveal themselves in time. As grooves slowly started to emerge from the stage, the crowd began to weave through the beats, finding rhythms that would morph into deep funk and twist psychedelia. As the band hit their mark, a broken mirror began to reflect light back over the crowd as lasers helped illuminate their sharpened sound, each lick of the guitar and beat on the drum falling perfectly in line, the band never once falling out of sync or losing the detailed rhythms that they conjured up with what seemed like such ease and determination. Beautifully moving between their more stretched out ambient works and their newer tunes, the band would hit the floor with stomping rhythms and when the electro-jazz funk of "Graucha Max" hit, the room lit up like a kaleidoscope of rainbow swirls that washed over the stage as people got down and lost their heads to the deep funk organ work of Jaar while Harrington shredded away on his guitar which had a much more prevalent prog-rock vibe in a live setting and really put his talents on display and gave way to moments that wouldn't have felt out of place for Steely Dan at their proggiest or most jammy moments. Perfectly oscillating between their skills, their never seemed to be a leader onstage and while Jaar tackled the vocal work, it was clear that the trio were splitting duties to make sure everything felt perfectly into place. Inserting "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" into the set was another glorious move that allowed for their widescreen and cinematic appeal to come into full view and helped breakdown the set into more digestible bits as the band would end a long gestating groove before finding their way into something brand new after a gentle reset. Newer song "S.N.C." also brought more of the four on the floor energy and when the breakdown hit, people once again found themselves in a total trance of funky grooves and undeniable rhythms that at times recalled parts "That's All" by Genesis. "Liberty Bell" once again brought out more of that squelching organ work and "Paper Trails" was true psychedelic odyssey that left people transported into a new dimension. The entire show was a perfectly laid out journey and it was clear just how much fun these three have playing with each other night after night and Jaar made sure his love and appreciation was felt throughout the venue as he thanked everyone for joining them in this night or total magic.
Set list:
02 "Heart"
03 (Unknown)
04 "Graucha Max"
05 "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" [Nancy Sinatra cover]
06 "A1"
07 "S.N.C"
08 "Liberty Bell"
09 "Hell suite, Pt. I
10 (Unknown)
11 "Paper Trails"
12 "Metatron"
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