Craft Spells (above). Photo credit: Daniel Dorsa.
The show last Wednesday night at the Blind Pig featured the bands Craft Spells, and had two bands opening for them: The Bilinda Butchers and Gosh Pith. Initially, the venue was pretty empty. The first band was one I had not heard of, and apparently it was not too well known around Ann Arbor either. It turns out the first band, Gosh Pith, is based in Detroit. I found it interesting looking up their bio later that the two member band had formed by happen-chance somehow in Paris, and while the story was interesting, the music itself was not. I found it hard to enjoy the electronic beats and intermittent vocals, which probably would have been better if not for the technical problems they experienced trying to find a balance between the different sounds.
The next band to play was The Bilinda Butchers. They come from San Francisco, and got a lot more enthusiasm from the audience when they stepped up. Their songs were familiar and the more upbeat dream pop songs were more popular. Unfortunately, the sound technology was still malfunctioning and though the band attempted to fix the sound problem between songs, they were never able to quite get it. The Bilinda Butchers feature a delicate, more ethereal vocal lead and though it was audible, it was drowned out by the percussion at times. It was nice to see that some of the members of the next band, Craft Spells, were standing at the front of the stage swaying along with the music and cheering them on.
Finally Craft Spells came on stage and by this time the main floor was pretty packed. The band set up immediately and started playing some of their more popular songs like “After the Moment” and “Nausea”. Their songs are a lot less poppy than The Bilinda Butchers, but they have a fuller sound with more waves of electronic and synth. It was pretty to listen to and as the final band to play, it was a nice way to enjoy and wind down. Overall, it was one of the more patchy performances I’ve seen at The Blind Pig, but I found that the sounds of the bands complimented each other nicely.
