The Savage Blush headlined a show at Larimer Lounge on Saturday the 23 with openers Prude Boys (Burger Records) and Dead Palms. The Blush more than deserved their slot. Their stage presence fills a room like heavy water. Their charismatic yet unfazed demeanor commands attention to the music, and when they play, it is quickly known that they have tapped into a deep sonic reservoir not oft discovered.
The band has been expanding upon their lo/fi, surf garage sound since 2014, gaining momentum and fanbase by touring across the nation in their van and playing homegrown festivals. I first met them in 2015 right after they released their first full length album ‘Dust,’ and have been hot on their trail since, following their progression and maturation from playful surf rock in the vein of Shannon and the Clams into high-tempo unabashedness akin to bands like Thee Oh Sees.
The title “Dust” is a perfect fit for the space The Savage Blush create in their tracks. One feels lost in the world of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali. Dust runs off of a cold, wavering heat that melts clocks in an interminable desert of sound and psychedelia.
Their set at Larimer operated under the same feeling of their studio work but with more raw power, and it’s evident from their performance the closeness that lives in a family band. Rebecca and Joshua Williams, brother and sister only two years apart in age are the heart and brains behind the project. Their roots have extended across the local scene into various side projects and gigs, only to continually return to their original and humble beginnings that started in their church band room when they were in elementary school.
Local projection company Cat Scanner provided a psychedelic light show. A small fold up table weighed with beakers, petri dishes and vials of oily colored liquids swirled on spinning plates above old school projectors. The whole scene felt like an avant-garde social experiment or performance and crafted a completely immersive environment.
Most of their songs were written more or less in the Colorado desert during weeks long van trips, and their live shows operate under the same desert temperature ranges. Rebecca’s vocals oscillate between hot and cold tonalities of night and day.
Spanish vocals sung like incantations, the tracks swell into the deeper and darker, drawing images of American desertscapes with sparseness and aridity. Their sets boil like a cauldron into chaotic turmoil then abruptly end like a pot of water pulled quickly from a burner.
Want more Blush? Catch them live on October 28th with KGNU at Lion’s Lair Quarterly Showcase with The Bipedal Approach and Suastro and the Fruity Loops.
