sugar plum ferry @ the wall (taipei)
Last Friday I saw Sugar Plum Ferry at the Wall in Taipei.
The Taiwan indie scene seems to be dominated by two camps at opposite ends of a spectrum: post-rock and bubblegum indie pop/ twee. In the former camp, one of the most well respected bands is Sugar Plum Ferry. I recently picked up their long awaited sophomore release, Thank You for Reminding Me, put out by my favorite Taipei indie record store/ label White Wabbit Records, and decided that I’d try to catch them the next time they played in town, which was conveniently soon.
Their sound reminds me other guitar-based post rock bands, Mogwai for example, but also of the instrumental moments of Seam (who I like quite a lot). In fact Sun Protection Factor (SPF! get it??) lists both of these bands among their influences. (Interesting, they also list Steve Reich, my favorite minimalist composer. Listen to Tehilim II or III some time–good stuff.)
Sugar Plum Ferry – (Unknown) (mp3)
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They put on a solid hour-long performance. Solid both as in good and as in without breaks. After trailing off or ending one song, they’d go right into the next song. Nothing really detracted from the set and it built nicely upon itself. Overall a good set.
There was a lot about this show that seemed quite odd to me, coming from a scene laced with politeness. Whether or not people like a particular song, there will be applause after each one. Whether or not the audience is attentive or claps, the band will thank them after each song. Whether or not the headlining act played a great set, if people are there to see them and there isn’t some strange mitigating circumstance (club curfew, artist specifically not doing encores) there will be enough applause to bring out a band for an encore. It’s pretty ridiculous.
However this show was just as ridiculous in the opposite direction. The three band members came on spaced apart by a few minutes (it was one of those slow-building songs, where each band member adds in slowly). The first guy on stage (guitarist) came on to either zero applause or next-to-none. Between songs, there would be the dying decaying notes of the last song or sustained, purposeful feedback, leaving a gap in which the audience could definitely applaud, but they didn’t. None of the band had mics, so no one said “Xie xie” (thank you) between songs. After the band’s last song there was perhaps 20 seconds of strong applause which then stopped. The guitarist eventually returned to the stage, found a microphone and delivered a minute long monologue to which the crowd did not react. The club lights came on; that was it.
As for the record, Thanks for Reminding Me, I still think I need more time to let it sink in, but, on the surface at least, it’s a enjoyable listen.
