Song #28: La Dispute - "Nine"

When La Dispute visited Australia, playing shows all around the country with To The North from Brisbane, they inspired, invigorated and exhausted a lot of people. The entire thing was a glorious display of a band halfway across the world showing absolutely no signs of pretension or grandeur and getting in the face of about one hundred fans who adored them. I saw the band twice in two days - once at a rehearsal studio in North Wollongong and once in an abandoned house in Huskisson. Needless to say, I was in awe of how much energy the band put into the music and how much the audience was giving back to them. It made their tumultuous journey "down under" seem so worth it. It's an experience I doubt I'll ever forget.

Having worn out my album, EPs and bootlegs from that very tour, the band have just offered up some new material, as well as some harder-to-find older stuff.

Here, Hear. Volume 3 is a continuation of the band's experiment where each member records a track individually and often has music set to spoken word or a reading. The songs have no titles, only numbers. In this instance, I'm uncertain of the member (possibly vocalist Jordan?) or the text from which is being read. What I can tell you, however, is that we have a very fruitful experiment here. The keyboards are icy cold in tone, its company only a shaky percussive thud and sparse, toneless electric guitar. Your time with the track is only brief, but that's more than enough time to engross you in this bizarre world the song creates. It's not only a shock to the senses, but also a real treat for fans who are interested in another side of the band's musicality.

FINAL RATING (/10): 8

For those of you interested in checking it all out, the band are offering up a tonne of stuff for download.The purchase format is pay what you want - there's no minimum purchase price, so you can have the songs for free if you so desire. If you're paying, however, all proceeds go to the Well House Community Living of Grand Rapids (where the band is from), which is described as a non-profit outreach program in Grand Rapids that provides emergency shelter and permanent housing for displaced and homeless families.

The link is here. Thanks for your time!

x

David