The Study wouldn't have taken up a drop of our ink if they didn't drive up to Bethlehem from Philly on a monday night to play an open mic at the funhouse, scoping out where they'd be playing several weeks later.
Most acts on these mondays are joyfully soaked in booze, uncomfortably loose, and happy to test out new music on an equally uncomfortable crowd...enter The Study. They filled the room with a controlled sound, blasting through four songs found on their EP, XXXXXX, laying a foundation that sucked everyone in. Live, they filled the room with just enough sound for each moment, building urgent loudness aligned with the curving, swelling arc of each song.
The CD was full of well-written danceable and more melodramatic versions of the taste they gave us live, but it lacked the intimacy and energy of the open mic set. Hints of death cab, television(i compare all things to them--deal with it), cursive, and heaps of classical music--their keyboard player super-defined their sound playing piano, cello, and synth licks that spanned Rick Wakeman of Yes to Bach...very definitive and super-dramatic live but on the CD it came off like bad acting at times. Telemundo style.
In person, I believed this band--focused right on their sound and words--and can't wait for them to again come take the funhouse open mics to another level on a random night or see them live elsewhere in the valley, but I really hope they immerse themselves in all the filthy local bands and attitudes, scarring up their sound into something a little more damaged and not as dramatic. They don't have to fight for attention when they're being what I think is their best--a hypnotic live band.
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