New York City band ‘The Antlers’ ended their UK tour on Sunday in Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds. The show was nothing short of excellent, and the quirkiness of Belgrave Music Hall complimented the band perfectly.
The bands set was heavily based on their newest album ‘Familiars’, opening with ‘Palace’ and closing with ‘Parade’. As well as a total of 8 tracks from ‘Familiars’, the band played ‘No Widows’ from their 2011 album ‘Burst Apart’, and ‘Kettering’ from their first album ‘Hospice’.
Genre wise ‘The Antlers’ lie somewhere in between a bedroom folk rock project, and cleverly orchestrated rock. Peter Silberman’s vocals and lyrics perfectly compliment Michael Lerner’s drumbeats, as well as the many instruments Darby Cicci appears to master so effortlessly. Cicci is a sensation to watch as he plays upright/electric bass, keyboards, synths, and the trumpet (which features heaviliy on the ‘Familiars’ album). It’s not often you witness somebody play a keyboard and a trumpet so faultlessly at the same time!
‘The Antlers’ are an incredibly talented group, to the extent that the crowd weren’t just well behaved, they were silent – probably due to the fact they were watching the band in awe. It was a highly atmospheric gig, and it must have been about 45 minutes in to it before the band engaged with the crowd, with Silberman being incredibly modest and thankful to the audience, informing them that it’s “been a while” since they last played in Leeds.
I can’t think of another band with the same alternative style as ‘The Antlers’. Their latest album ‘Familiars’ is out now, and it’s definitely worth listening to in preparation for any future tour dates!
By Laura Dean – @modestlaura
