{"id":21953,"date":"2014-08-17T14:09:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T22:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=21953"},"modified":"2014-08-20T14:34:22","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T22:34:22","slug":"review-and-photos-pandora-presents-the-antlers-at-mack-sennett-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2014-08\/review-and-photos-pandora-presents-the-antlers-at-mack-sennett-studios\/","title":{"rendered":"Review and Photos: Pandora Presents The Antlers at Mack Sennett Studios"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We were deeply chagrined to miss The Antlers<\/strong><\/a> when they played a series of sold-out shows in LA last month in support of their superb new album Familiars<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 So we were thrilled to attend the invite-only show presented by Pandora<\/strong> and StubHub<\/strong> Friday night at the legendary Mack Sennett Studios <\/strong>in Los Feliz.<\/p>\n

We have been huge fans of The Antlers<\/strong> (Peter\u00a0Silberman, Darby\u00a0Cicci\u00a0<\/strong>and Michael Lerner<\/strong>) since 2009’s devastatingly good Hospice<\/strong><\/em> album and catching them enthrall in San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles concerts<\/a><\/strong> while out on their tour in support of that album.\u00a0\u00a0 Hospice<\/strong><\/em> was followed by the brilliant Burst Apart<\/strong><\/em>, and then their 2012 EP\u00a0Undersea<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Familiars<\/strong><\/em> is recently released on Anti- Records<\/strong>, and we will have a full (rave) review of it soon.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that on Familiars<\/em> The Antlers<\/strong> continue to write beautiful, emotion-laden melodies, and Peter Silberman\u2019s<\/strong> falsetto is set once again in the company of\u00a0 angels.\u00a0 But musically Familiars<\/strong><\/em> is a hornier album (as in employing more horns, ya guttersnipes) than prior albums, which helps to sell the mood evermore.\u00a0 And on the album Silberman<\/strong> has newly adopted a two-sides-to-every-story, doppelg\u00e4nger<\/span> lyrical narrative that adds even more depth.<\/p>\n

On Friday at the Mack Sennett Studios<\/strong>, the band came out and did what they do so well live:\u00a0 melodically building their songs to intensely atmospheric climaxes, only to (oft-times) resolve in peaceful calm, all of which drives a crowd to emotional oblivion and back.\u00a0 There were chills and tear-spills all over the set.\u00a0 On stage, the band is led by Silberman’s<\/strong> scintillating falsetto and guitar-play.\u00a0 The comparisons of Silberman’s<\/strong> vocals to Jeff Buckley<\/strong> are not inappropriate, though Silberman may have Buckley beat (we know, sacrilege, but we’re sticking to it), and especially live where (unimaginably) he goes beyond the recorded evidence.\u00a0 While Silberman<\/strong> only briefly exchanged words with the audience, throughout the set his eyes sought out and connected with in-close audience members, adding a personal touch that trite words could not convey.\u00a0 Charmed, we’re sure.<\/p>\n

Their set was naturally dominated by Familiars’<\/strong> <\/em>songs, with highlights being Palace, Hotel, Parade, Revisited, Director, Suffering<\/strong> <\/em>and Refuge<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(alright, pretty much every song on the album), all of which benefited from their enhanced live delivery. \u00a0Familiars<\/strong><\/em> songs were interlaced with Hospice’s<\/em><\/strong> touchstones Kettering, Sylvia<\/strong><\/em>, and Epilogue<\/strong><\/em> (one of their best quasi-anthems), and Undersea’s Drift Dive<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 The band then closed strongly with reverberating renditions of I Don\u2019t Want Love<\/strong><\/em> and Putting the Dog to Sleep<\/strong><\/em> off of Burst Apart<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Throughout the set, in keeping with the new album’s hornier sound, the\u00a0dual horn\/keys accompaniment<\/strong> of arranger Darby Cicci<\/strong> and newly added Kelly Pratt <\/strong>lifted the songs to new emotional heights, matched always by the mood-perfect playing of Michael Lerner<\/strong> on drums.\u00a0 Cicci<\/strong> and Pratt<\/strong> at times took turns on trumpet, at other times harmonized on horns (oft-times while one or both of them also played keyboard with their other hands), while at others\u00a0Pratt<\/strong> would open songs with his resoundingly evocative French horn.\u00a0 Throughout the set Pratt<\/strong> added jazz-inflected coloratura to the soaring sounds that would not be out of place on ECM Records <\/strong>(high praise in our book).<\/p>\n

Minor quibble:\u00a0 as much as we loved their set, we share the desires expressed by many fans:\u00a0 here’s to The Antlers<\/strong> adding additional moods and rhythms to their song palette to draw a broader audience to the deserving band.\u00a0 But if not, we remain all-in on The Antlers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And kudos to Pandora<\/strong> and StubHub<\/strong> for the perfectly staged and sound-mixed event, replete with custom commemorative posters screened on-site and complimentary t-shirts, all as set in the historic Mack Sennett Studios<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Check out the photos above and below courtesy of Imeh Akpanudosen\/Getty Images for Pandora<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those that could not attend, you can check out some recent, superb “live” (in studio) videos of this fine band in action by going HERE<\/strong><\/a> to see our post on their set at KEXP<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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We were deeply chagrined to miss The Antlers when they played a series of sold-out shows in LA last month in support of their superb new album Familiars.\u00a0 So we were thrilled to attend the invite-only show presented by Pandora and StubHub Friday night at the legendary Mack Sennett Studios in Los Feliz. We have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t