Concert review: The Lighthouse and the Whaler

Ohio alternative band The Lighthouse and the Whaler performed at The Middle East last Wednesday night with co-headliner Ewert and the Two Dragons as a part of their tour promoting the new album This is an Adventure.

The concert began with two openers excluding Ewert and the Two Dragons, both of which were local to New England. The first band, Maestro Thrust, went on to play a set that could only be described as entertaining, even if the actual musical competence of the band was questionable. While the songs were cleverly written, male vocalist Magento Lieshi often sang off-key and the guitars seemed rarely in sync. Surprisingly enough, the band was still enjoyable to watch. Maestro Thrust was, if nothing else, unabashedly confident. They laugh as they sing off-key and scream, all for the sake of the performance. Somehow, it worked, with songs like “Sexy Zombie Party” and a mashup of “Rack City,” “Someone Like You” and “Call Me Maybe” amongst other memorable tracks. As an audience member, one had as much fun watching these musicians as they did playing.

After Maestro Thrust, Private Shapes took the stage with their multiple electric percussionists, guitars and vocalist. The resulting music was incredibly unique – the moment it started to remind you of an existing band, the sound would change into something completely different. Lead singer Charlie Ray has a distinctly beachy voice that complimented the complex percussion of Alexis Desjardins, which went from new wave to tribal in seconds flat. The result: a new-wave meets Talking Heads energetic set. However, the high-energy performance of Private Shapes came dangerously close to sounding muddled, with too many rhythms crashing together at loud volumes.

Ewert and the Two Dragons, the fairly popular Estonian indie folk band, began its first North American tour with Lighthouse and the Whaler on Oct. 7 in San Francisco, Calif. This concert at the Middle East was one of its last, and based on the quality of this performance, the tour has been beyond a success. Listening to prerecorded ETD is a completely different experience from listening to it live. Lead vocalist Ewert Sundja’s voice haunts and takes your breath away, guitarist Erki Parnoja strums in a mystical way, drummer Kristjan Kallas slams his drum so you feel it under your skin. Songs like “The Rabbit” and “Good Man Down” sound ancient; “Sailor Man” and “There’s Only Love” sound ethereal. The performance of Ewert and the Two Dragons elevated the overall concert from ‘fun’ to ‘breathtaking.’

When Lighthouse and the Whaler finally began its set, lead singer Michael LoPresti declared, “We want to make these three last concerts the best ones of the tour.” Again, The Lighthouse and the Whaler succeeded. While Ewert and the Two Dragons quiet your mind and force you to listen, The Lighthouse and the Whaler make you feel each song as opposed to just hearing the words. Audience members developed a connection with the music and the band itself.

A climactic moment within the set came with the song “Little Vessels.” LoPresti had the audience sing along with the chorus, and as we sang among the guitar and the swirling synthesizers, we were enveloped by the sound of the collective concert, the power of the group working together to make something beautiful. The experience was as close to religious as it could be.