By Kwame Korkor
Boston-based bands the Dear Hunter and the Cadence treated students to their lush guitar-driven sounds at afterHOURS Saturday.
The Cadence started the evening with a cutting guitar riff over an ambient wall of guitar sound. Keeping pace throughout the set, the crowd was fully attuned to its sparse melodies and undulating beat.
“The genre’s not my favorite, but I liked their sound,” said freshman music industry major Austin Burt as he snapped photos of the band as they played.
The Council for University Programs and the Northeastern chapter of the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association co-sponsored the show.
The Cadence finished up by playing “an old song,” that demonstrated the band’s breadth of writing skills, which incorporated catchy vocals that got a few members of the crowd singing along.
“[They’re] a really good local band, and there aren’t that many around,” said sixth-year pharmacy major Sammy Klingman.
Between sets, audience members observed the performers setting up equipment onstage and watched the four luminescent screens playing Game three of the World Series.
Without introduction, the Dear Hunter began playing, immediately garnering the attention of the now noticeably larger and more compact crowd as the band crept toward the stage.
The Dear Hunter formed after guitarist and songwriter Casey Crescendo left local band the Receiving End of Sirens just as they began to gain acclaim across the nation.
He redirected his creative energies into recordings that would eventually spawn Act I: The Lake South, The River North, the band’s first album.
Crescendo wrote, composed and produced the eight-song EP with some help from his mother, father and brother, who sang, played horns and drums, respectively.
He then enlisted a full band with which to perform the songs live. The Dear Hunter is the title character in the band’s concept, which focuses the band’s music. The songs are about a boy born to a prostitute in the early 20th century.
With a combination of various musical phrases that resurface in accordance with themes in the plot, Crescendo has been able to achieve an almost cinematic quality to his music.
After a brief jam session, the band’s first song broke into a distinct thump, driven by syncopated rhythms going between the drums and bass, with layered swirling guitars and soulful lyrics to back it up.
Each song seamlessly segued into the next, with drummer Cliff Sarcona changing a broken snare drum without onlookers even noticing a lapse.
The crowd swayed in time with the band onstage. After shouts of song requests from a few who were familiar with the band’s music, The Dear Hunter performed its last song titled “Red Hands.” A sing-a-long echoing the song’s chorus filtered through the loud guitars and poignant piano phrases.
“They’re one of the most original and talented bands around,” Klingman said after the performance.
Crescendo said it is necessary to reinvent oneself in the process of creating music.
“We’re trying to offer something else to people because you owe it to them to present something original when so much out there sounds the same,” he said.
The Cadence plans on touring nationwide to support the album they are currently recording. The Dear Hunter is now on its tour in support of their latest album, Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading, alongside Circa Survive, Ours and Fear Before the March of Flames.
