The Engine That Could...

rock you, make you think and move you all at once. I'm referring to the powerful Engine Down, the "emo-rock-type" band that loves Sunny Day Real Estate, minor harmonic guitar playing, smooth vocals and vibrant drumming. To be fair, though, they developed their own sound over the years. Like SDRE, they are definitely not a whiney emo band that MTV currently loves, with members dressed in tight clothes with straggly hair, sunken eyes and do incredible things onstage like spinkicks and flips to detract the audience from their mediocre musicianship. These 4 gentlemen put on an incredible live show, as I saw firsthand at the Triple Rock Social Club last Friday night.

Arriving around 6:45, I expected to hear the opener Des Ark. Instead, I heard this powerful female voice onstage as I entered. I wondered what band this was, so I asked a crowd member and he said it was Bella Lea. The singer and guitarist was Maura, and her voice was similar to Portishead or even PJ Harvey. The drummer was very fluid, with arms and legs pounding away and making for a thunderous sound that covered the venue in cymbals and kick drums. The guitar and bass work drew from modern rock and jazz structures at times, showing a unique spread of influences. Their set was fun to watch, and one song really gave me goosebumps as Maura's jazzy voice soared in time with a building drum beat that erupted just as the crowd collectively gasped. Too bad it's not on their 3 song EP that I bought for $2 instead of downloading it from their MySpace page. I look forward to their LP.

What was even more amazing was the family connection that Bella Lea and Engine Down had. The 2 guitarists, Keeley and Jonathan, in Engine Down used to play bass and drums in Maura's old band, Denali. And, Keeley is Maura's brother. So, lots of connections there.

Engine Down played for about 75 minutes, with their set split mostly even between songs on their 4 albums. That was great since their last album came out last year and some bands like to promote the hell out of their last album and forget how they used to sound. Not this band, though. Maura even went onstage to sing a song with her brother. I found that wonderful, as I have not seen a lot of brother/sister music collaborations at the shows I go to. Keeley and Jonathan were a two-prong guitar attack, letting their music speak for their lack of showmanship. There wasn't a lot of movement between band members, but their music swung volumes of energy around the crowd. It affected me, as I again swayed and bobbed and rocked out to the whole set, singing along to vocals drowned out by amps. Every song live was extended by 2 or 3 minutes of post-rockish bliss, making me one happy concert-goer. After all, they do thank Explosions In The Sky on their latest self-titled album.

There was no announcement of their last song, just straight-forward instrumentation that made for the perfect ending: Music playing, then the 1st guitarist leaving, then the 2nd one, then the bassist, and finally the drummer fading out the set with a calm but intense array of tension playing. All in all, an amazing show. Sadly, this is Engine Down's last tour, dubbed the appropriate 'Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow' Farewell Tour. I'm sure though, that they'll be involved in other music endeavors. Their merch guy and Maura told me that, so I rest assured. Afterwards, the show put me in a calm-body-but-hyper mind-state, which I expected no-less from this incredible night of loud and quiet art.