Failure & Swervedriver LIVE!
Failure
w/Swervedriver
Tuesday, March 19
The Plaza Live, Orlando, FL
This is a terrific line-up of bands who don’t care about being pin ups. Seriously, this show was about music and 
lights, and more massive swaths of sound careening headlong into the audience.
Failure, from Los Angeles, were at the helm of the controlled chaos, as the sound and light combined into sensory overload. With a forest of lights onstage, aimed straight up and away from the stage, the band was further obscured, rather than accentuated.
Trippy and purposeful, “Another Space Song” was airy, and wry, like a waking dream, with a propulsive rhythm. Failure delivered dense visceral sonic workouts at times reminiscent of Lou Reed’s indulgences but also calling to mind Pink Floyd’s impenetrable, turbid soundscapes, a la “Interstellar Overdrive.” “Dark Speed” is a great example of their thickset unwavering rhythm, with different colors caroming over top. This was a purposeful performance of uncompromising music. Often cinematic, never indulgent, the music veering from lighter than air to burly layers of distortion.
From the UK comes Swervedriver, who likewise, perform back lit, in mostly red and blue hues. Their music creates 
it’s own unique sense of space. Opening with “Mary Winter,” chiming guitars play against distortion. Unable to decide if they want to play noise rock or pop, they compromise and do both. The guitars work themselves around one another, in manic, controlled swirls. “Future Ruins” unspooled steadily, a measured musical revelation; unhurried and thin as kite string, holding so much together with such a tenuous touch. Swervedriver use space here, allowing the song to breathe, uncluttered.
Halfway through their set, singer, Adam Franklin, took a moment to acknowledge the passing of surf guitar legend Dick Dale, dedicating a song to him. The band reached back to Mezcal Head to close out the show with “Duel.” The band is light on their feet, with a deft agility, building walls of sound before dropping away to a whisper, in full control. The band is in fine form here, Easily navigating musical swells of their own creation.
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