I got another chance to see A Place To Bury Strangers.
"Missing You" Single by APTBS. Photo © 2008.
The beauty of APTBS is in the layers of sounds. Oliver Ackermann makes it look effortless to blend so many guitar sounds together at once that it sounds like there are an extra two invisible guitarists on stage with him. I know this sort of effect playing isn’t easy, but you can tell that this is his passion. And then the projections behind the band, 16mm film strips that were madly edited like Quentin Tarantino meets Andy Warhol, were just the right icing on the cake—a pop art collage of vintage girls, cars, guns, and sparks.
The band sounds so much better live than on their early recordings that I really was wide eyed and disbelieving. It was full throttle guitar. I was also hoping the gig would give me the a taste of the feelings I had when I was infatuated with My Bloody Valentine, Lush, and The Jesus & Mary Chain, and it did. For a fleeting few moments, I was 17 again, with my headphones on. It wasn’t just nostalgia, although it was a sort of relief to know that the old shoegaze sound persists and is still evolving. The feeling was more like watching a magic trick and getting completely taken in.