Earth @ Stereo

Sir Richard Bishop and Earth are clear in their aim: their appearance at Stereo tonight is a celebration of the guitar. Bishop ambles on stage armed with nothing but his axe and a rack of effects pedals. His fingers scurry up and down the neck of the guitar conjuring bursts of melodies equally influenced by flamenco, raga, and the blues. His skill is undeniable, but over the course of his 30 minute set he becomes lost somewhere between noodling and inspiration. Earth kick off their set with Hung From the Moon and immediately prove that melt-your-face shredding isn't necessary to create hugely epic soundscapes. The four-piece play as an incredibly cohesive unit, providing an excellent backdrop for Dylan Carlson's carefully selected guitar melodies. The show's highlight proves to be the title track of their latest album, The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull, with its unobtrusively psychedelic guitar line and twinkling electric piano. Carlson's zen-like dismissal of crescendos is mostly spellbinding, yet it's difficult not to crave more of a departure from what is a fairly straight reading. [Tobias Kahn]