Last week we debuted our Daily Discovery feature spotlighting Nightmare Air on the strength of 2013 album High in the Lasers and the L.A.-based group’s final U.S. dates before touring Europe, then returning to the studio. Fortunately, the trio did not disappoint during this final (for a while) hometown show at the intimate and mostly full El Cid restaurant in Silver Lake.
Considering the background of the headlining act’s guitarist and frequent singer Dave Dupuis as a former sound engineer for Silversun Pickups and the Duke Spirit, it’s no surprise that his current group crafted such formidable noise. Drawing from their latest disc, Nightmare Air layered swirls of guitar feedback on top of dual vocals amidst a sea of pupil-dilating strobes that were reminiscent of the best British acts from the late ’80s and early ’90s.
From among those groups, Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine came to mind, but Nightmare Air didn’t present itself as a stereotypical shoegaze outfit. Throughout this gig, the group veered as far from the delicate side of that sonic style’s spectrum as possible, instead favoring ear-splitting guitar dissonance and an air of percussive menace provided by drummer Jimmy Lucido.
In Dupuis’ case, despite his impressive array of effects pedals, he was not content to stand still and gaze downward. Rather, he was a constantly moving, head-banging showman, complimented by the unerring energy of bassist Swaan Miller, who likewise made for a captivating spectacle of hair-flying mayhem juxtaposed with sweet, soothing vocals.
Once their 40-minute set ended, a harsh dose of reality sunk in. As an L.A. local, I could (and should) have enjoyed Nightmare Air’s cacophonous onslaught even more times over the past year. Then again, a shot at personal redemption will come with the group’s next album cycle.
Co-headliners Roman Remains, who recently toured with Gary Numan, proved as big a draw as the evening’s closers. A side-project of the Duke Spirit, the British duo cranked the intensity to eleven with dark synth lines, abyssal bass lines and a candied vocal style that culminated into a ten-song set of crowd-pleasers.
In contrast, the members of local act Nightmail were subdued and wistful during for their opening set. Before the quartet conjured a hypnotic dream-pop gem for its penultimate track, frontwoman Dvin Kirakosian stated that there were two songs left. A fan then pleaded for three more, to which Kirakosian matter-of-factly replied, “We don’t have three more.” No matter – what the band did present was a promising start.
Photos also by Frank Mojica