GLISS at SXSW Music Festival. March 16, 2012. Rating: NNN
Was it because they played their SXSW show inside a taco bar that L.A. art trio Gliss sounded like a druggy alt.country band?
The group, whom on record are more shoegazers than urban cowboys, took the best parts of the alternative country sound and made them their own for their live set at Guero’s Taco Bar. They had lots of empty space in their songs, a slimmed down set up and lyrical sentiment so lonesome I thought they were from Texas.
The air between notes was especially refreshing, considering most bands I’ve seen at SXSW look to fill every second of their music with sound, lest they lose anyone’s attention.
Gliss played a stand-up drum and couple steel-string instruments (it’s Texas, where I imagine they call guitars string instruments, ok?) to great, dark effect on the overcast patio on the hip, community-oriented strip in south Austin, far from the happy hours and tourist bars of 6th Street.
Weight of Love, their new single, sounded almost too gloomy for the family-friendly circus going on around them.
What seperated Gliss from other bands in the lineup, among other things, was the unique drum effect in their songs, which sounded more like an 808 drum beat than anything organic. It gave the band almost a hip hop or house quality – though the songs are so slow and airy that’s only if you truly distill the drums from the rest of the instruments.
Overall, it was either a dreamy reprieve from SXSW ROCK!, or a pleasantly surprising soundtrack for a taco stop.
