How To Guide

Ordinarily, you'd find something about the most recent Game of Thrones episode here. But I didn't get to watch it yet, because last night I went to go see a concert. How to Destroy Angels is a group built on parts of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor pulled in his longtime collaborators Atticus Ross (with whom he won an Oscar for scoring The Social Network) and art director/musician Rob Sheridan. And then, to change things up, lead vocal duties went to Reznor's wife, Mariqueen Maandig.

The female vocalist makes a difference in the sound to begin with, but further differentiating this band from the classic Nine Inch Nails sound is the place Reznor and Ross now find themselves in musically. The more atmospheric sensibility they employ in their film scores has been brought to this band, leading to a debut album ("Welcome oblivion") that is almost sedate for long stretches. It's still interesting to listen to, but also serves well as background music for things.

To bring the necessary concert punch to this, the band put on a hell of a light show. I'm hard-pressed to describe what just what the concert looked like, but it featured a number of... well, semi-transparent, lenticular curtains. They could be deployed in various configurations, including (the most commonly used one) a complete wall between the band and the audience. This allowed a wide array of lighting effects to be projected in a way that appeared to put the band inside the light show. It was pretty cool to look at (except on a handful of occasions in the show when blinding lights were aimed directly at the audience, making it literally impossible to see).

Honestly, it wasn't one of my favorite concerts. The music is generated mostly by electronics, and so the band itself was almost entirely static without the lights playing around them. Still, it was hardly boring either, a real technical achievement. You certainly got something out of seeing it that you wouldn't get listening to the album.

Even if I'd absolutely loved the show, however, it would be hard for me to then say, "go out and see the band when they come to your town," because they probably won't be. How to Destroy Angels is on tour for a mere three weeks, hitting only about a dozen cities, before packing it in again. From its inception three years ago (and release of a pair of EPs), this band seems to be more of a hobby to its members than a full-on effort, and their abbreviated tour reflects that.

Still, if you like the sound of the soundtracks for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, or the Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts, you would probably enjoy this new album. That much, I can point you to.