Lymbyc Systym live review
Review of the Lymbyc Systym gig at The Freebutt, Brighton on Jan 13th 2009.
The year got off to a rocking start with Lymbyc Systym at the Freebutt. Two Brooklyn based brothers; Mike and Jared Bell fuse electronica with a post rock element to produce instrumental tracks that sound like a bastard child of Explosions in the Sky and Fridge that also had a love affair with Four Tet and shagged The Album Leaf just for kicks. They used to tour together, so this definitely happened.
When they tour with Broken Social Scene soon, it will be a tad frustrating for the boys as the crowd will be boozing it up for the BSS party and not be quite as receptive to their loooong tracks. Lymbyc Systym are better suited to headline their own little show.
You never know though, maybe a thousand people and tops could fall for these crescendos like the tiny crowd of around thirty did here tonight. The brothers are tight as nutcracker trying to crack open Brazil nuts and have practiced together for years. It’s incredible that just two people can make all this noise; the effects and loops collide with the hurtling drums in a highly proficient set.
The only gripes are that sometimes the songs end abruptly when you might feel that they hadn’t quite yet reached the zenith. The Bell’s certainly have all the ability in the world and to build on this promise, they need to work on the order of tracks played in a rock show – some of the tracks were launched into, others started with a let-up, some ended with a thud and others just faded away. Things jarred. The duo seemed a little worried about the curfew, which is always a shame for a band; they should have been put on ten minutes earlier. With a few little modifications though, let’s hope this band will soon be ready for the blast-off they deserve.
Marcus Walsh