Explosions in the Sky @ the Showbox, 9/22/17
Review by Meredith Smith
Photos by Alex Crick
Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky at the Showbox Takes Us to Church
Explosions in the Sky’s songs, silent but for noise, are stories, epic tales with rise and fall, the drumbeat a cascade of twinkling stars and melodies that take you there and back again. An Explosions in the Sky show is catharsis, it’s the big sky of Midland, TX, the hometown of Michael James, Munaf Rayani, and Mark Smith, where nothingness reaches nothingness from state line to state line. Surrounded by an endless prairie, it’s not difficult to imagine that the EITS crew garnered the bulk of their inspiration from the Milky Way and the mesquites. Audience members rock back and forth to a strong stage presence, one where you can’t quite decide if the band is playing the music or the music is playing the band. The vibe is more like church than a rock show – but you’d sure be fine if Sunday mornings were more like this.
The instrumental post-rock band – made famous for their contribution to the show Friday Night Lights, a drama about the seminal football scene in rural Texas – returned to touring this fall in support of their newest album, The Wilderness, their first full-length studio offering since 2011, out now on Temporary Resistance Limited.
Explosions in the Sky
