If you’ve been to New York City’s Terminal 5 venue, you know that it’s essentially the cage in the apocalyptic film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Hordes of people are crammed into a two-tiered concrete arena with weird cable “fencing” on the 2nd floor to keep them from falling a few hundred feet to a live soundtrack. But it was actually not a bad place to see NYC-based band Cold Cave, now on tour to promote their sophomore album Cherish the Light Years (Matador). Then again, I wasn’t being shoved around in the pit on the 1st floor, either. The synth-pop project of singer/songwriter Wesley Eisold and his rotating cast of band members is dark, dramatic, and smacks of yet another futuristic film—the sci-fi, neo-noir Blade Runner. Eisold’s icy automated look helped the stage theatrics, too—dark brown kinda bowl cut hair, sharp facial features, and a black leather jacket that hung from his tall, thin frame. Dude’s pretty hot. His throaty, low vocals are a great match for the heavy waves of ’80s synth and ultra-crisp drumbeats that CC has perfected since releasing their first LP in 2009, Love Comes Close. On Cherish‘s dramatic opening track, “The Great Pan is Dead,” (which sadly was not played at T5) Eisold sounds so very Brian Ferry. And he channels Dave Gahan quite convincingly on new wave Cure’esque dance track “Confetti” (which, thankfully, was played.) However, I was bummed that Cold Cave only played as an all-male 3-piece that night. Where was Jennifer Clavin on the microKORG synthesizer with the beautiful back-up vocals?!? Sure, I heard her harmonies because her voice was recorded, but it just wasn’t the same. CC redeemed themselves a little bit though when they finished the set with the throbbing, dancy love song “Theme from Tomorrowland.”
Set List:
The Laurels of Erotomania
Icons of Summer
Youth and Lust
Underworld USA
Burning Sage
Confetti Theme from Tomorrowland
image: Oregon Music News
