THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Delta Sleep, Hikes, Bogues and Letters to Part, Soundbar, April 15

If you were looking to rock out with both the math and the feels, this was the show for you.
Topping the marquee were Delta Sleep, who where making their Orlando debut. Like fellow countrymen and near-past revivalists TTNG, this UK band are a golden call back to the early 2000s indie landscape where smart, technical and intricate music had significant profile. And from their showing here, Delta Sleep have made the intersection of math rock and emo primetime real estate again because they arrived to a feverish, deafening and near-punk reception.

Live, their involved rock was all angles and emotions, weaving a melodic topography that features both halcyon post-rock drifts to post-hardcore crashes. Despite all the detail, their surging heart swells prevent the songs from being weighed down with fuss, a nice sense of symmetry for such a technique-driven band. And they lit this crowd like it was 2005. Your cool uncle would be so proud.
Opening Austin band Hikes tills some similar soil with their blend of complexity and beauty. Their math-minded music features tons of instrumental latticework that jitters and skitters liberally, but it’s swathed in open, pastoral melodies of evergreen spirit.

The dazzle of Nathan James Wilkins’ fancy-ass finger work is sick enough to thrill the guitar nerds but not so knotty as to eclipse the loveliness of the songs. Add in passages of intelligent aggression for punctuation and you’ve got one dynamic package.



It all totaled a set that whipped the band and crowd into such equal froth that their performance ended with Wilkins being carried over the crowd on his back while shredding. Triumphant.

Although he identifies as emo, solo Nashville opener Bogues steers that vibe down roads more atmospheric and rustic. Instead of the rock core that typically fuels the genre, his songs unfurl in longer, slower breaths. It can get drowsy but it’s a needed twist on the form.

Orlando’s Letters to Part, who kicked off the night, also deal in their own blend of feelings and detail with drama-rock that’s large and designed to evoke. But earnest and true though they may be, their sensibility is dictated by the kind of open bathos that really only has currency with the most bleeding or freshmen of hearts.

Follow Bao on Twitter (@baolehuu)
Email Bao: baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com

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