Concert Review: Built to Spill

Posted by admin on Oct 17, 2007 in Volume 14 Issue 1 | 0 comments

Built to Spill performed a flawless show on October 2, 2007 at the Commodore Ballroom. Opening with “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss,” their sound was such a full-bodied taste that I found myself overwhelmed and, essentially, drinking beneath the table by the end of their first song.

The bearded, stoic faces of Built to Spill’s five musicians sweat through close to two and a half hours of playing at the beautiful Commodore Ballroom. I managed to squeeze in close to the stage, watching lead singer Doug Martsch sing with his eyes closed and mouth open-wide. In between songs, Martsch would stop and open his eyes, look at the crowd, say thanks, and ready the next song.

Between their three guitarists, one bassist and one drummer set, Built to Spill incorporates many different tonalities in their song structures. Also incredible is their ability to balance between intricate guitar riffs, and decomposed, revealing tones. Other progressive rock bands, such as God Speed You Black Emperor!, and Explosions in the Sky, rely on a similar style.
Along with their balance of chaos and simplicity, Built to Spill folds many different concepts of guitar work and songwriting over one another. “Goin’ Against Your Mind” exposed the talent Built to Spill has to build and improvise off of one another, as each guitarist would pick up a solo after one another and sometimes phase in and out of each other’s playing. As musicians, Built to Spill resounds a freedom in restructuring improvisation, discipline, and harmony as the listener stands in awe, trying to sort the pieces and see them fit back in place.

Experienced live, that process was a complete, fluid transcendence. Doug Martsch’s awkward vocals were remarkably sustained throughout the whole concert, and especially captured the crowd with “Car.” I was overjoyed that they played “Reasons,” also off of their first album, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.

Built to Spill’s improvisations are primarily cyclical in a free-verse poetry fashion, and with every song they take the listener on a tour de force. As such, the concert was a journey—shared between myself, as the listener, and the paths of Built to Spill’s musicians—that has rightfully restructured what I know as conventional music wisdom.