EMPATH w/ Star Party
6/9
$12 ADV / $15 DOS
9:00pm Doors / 9:30pm Show
21+
Proof of vax or negative test within 48 hours required for entry
Empath songs are messy and proud of it. Sometimes it feels as if all four of the band’s members are playing different songs at once, until they agree to get along and coalesce into something spectacular. Their songs can sound muddy and indistinguishable on first pass, but repeated listens unlock all of the intricately moving parts. Soon enough you’re grasping the music’s internal logic, bracing for the parts where it all comes together. The band is intentional in its sloppiness. They know how to work their way up to those indelible moments, frothing around before giving in and pummeling into a hook that’s sticky-sweet and serrated.
Empath have been at this for a while, and on their new album Visitor they sound better than ever. The group started as a trio — Catherine Elicson, Jem Shanahan, and Garrett Koloski — and in 2016 they released some commanding lo-fi blasts called Crystal Reality, recorded in a house in Philadelphia where you can actually hear the instruments bouncing off the walls back at them. It wouldn’t be until 2018, when they added keyboardist Randall Coon to their ranks, that they would reach their full potential. On the compact, compressed, and invigorating Liberating Guilt And Fear, the band offered up three tumultuous pop songs followed by one sprawling, meditative ramble. That would serve as the blueprint for their first full-length, 2019’s Active Listening: Night On Earth, which jutted tight structures against freeform atmosphere filled with birdsong and open air. The band’s affinity for New Age-y acoustics is a stark contrast to the anarchy that they are capable of conjuring up, which is downright anti-zen.
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