While it’s actually just regular Neumos with a skeleton crew (remember this detail, it’ll come up later), and an added floor-to-ceiling curtain, Half-Neumos is a land of intrigue and dreams.  There are a couple tables with stools in the back upon which candles flicker, and the normally oversized Neumos feels more like a small jazz club than the legendary rock venue that it is.  I discovered all of this the moment I stepped into darkness, with absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. 

The four band bill started with an intriguing performance by Seattle non-genre trio Children of Kids.  I really didn’t get what they were doing for a couple songs, confused by the repetition and mesmer-like quality of the drone, but once I started actually paying attention it struck me in a different way.  Children of Kids are essentially indefinable, with the intense, improvised live looping of Richie Nelson paired nicely with the electronic drums and effects of Madison Levine. The combination provides a perfect foundation and counterpoint to the soaring, hypnotic vocals of Madeline Franks.  There were times during the set when I was completely confused, times when I was bored, and times when I longed for more action onstage, but once I stopped trying to figure it out and simply listened I could hear the diamond in the rough, and I would easily believe that their time as opening support is about through.

Interestingly, they did this all in spite of apparent difficulty with the monitor mix.  After asking around a bit, I discovered that Half-Neumos only has one sound engineer, who is expected to mix both the room and the monitors.  As it’s basically impossible to do both perfectly solo, the monitor mix was less than desirable, resulting in a light set from the openers.

I hadn’t seen Lures since they played a killer set at Block Party this summer, and was very excited to see what they had come up with since.  The young men from the Sound haven’t dropped a bit, with an obvious slant toward progression.  I’m not going to repeat the review I wrote earlier this year, which you can find here, so I’ll spare you the descriptors and get right to the meat:  Lures’ new stuff is Fire.  Mid-set, they plugged their upcoming EP, and set off into a captivating instrumental that channeled Blues and Jazz influences with a minimalist guitar theme that was tantalizingly simple, providing just enough without crowding the genius that was happening on the other 2/3 of the stage. It was one of those moments when a band is firing on all cylinders, and everyone in the room knows it. The rest of the Lures’ set was equally impressive, with their signature hollowed, grinding bass/drum chemistry lending itself perfectly to the Dick Dale-esque bend and unique vocals of lead singer/guitarist Sam Peterson, Lures are certainly a band that should be on the radar of any fan of (local) music.

You know when you leave the house thinking things are going to go a certain way and then it doesn’t happen that way?  I had gone to this show alone, and had been perfectly fine with that, especially since I knew people that were playing, but I wasn’t prepared to see a dozen or so of my friends show up, nor was I prepared to see my friend Kevin hanging out with the third band of the evening, Bright White Lightning.  Kevin, the self-described “fourth member” of the Seattle-based electro-rock trio, had created a bright white lightning bolt comprised of 1200 LEDs that he had installed personally.  If that wasn’t impressive enough, then consider this: lead singer/guitarist Scott Howell wrote the foundations of most, if not all, of his band’s songs on an old school gen-1 Game boy (a type of music called chiptune).  With that 8bit sound as the starting point, BWL builds an almost classic rock feel, with brooding baritone and clockwork bass working with that electronic background.  On paper, it sounds like it might be a train wreck, I realize, but it works, becoming a dance-y, sassy mix of shoegaze and rock that was incredibly cool.  Kevin’s lightning bolt was also very cool, and VERY bright.  Again there were some mixing problems, as the Game Boy only playes in mono, but the 5 minutes flew by while that got fixed.

Half-Neumos, it turns out, is a fickle mistress. 
Fickle or not, no sound issues would stop the Comettes from owning the place.  This was another band I hadn’t seen since CHBP, and, as always, I was interested to see if their live show still held up.  I’d spoken with them at length earlier in the year, and was excited to hear the new music about which THEY were excited.  The wait was absolutely worth it.  Singer Timmy Sunshine had said previously that their recent EP Golden Blue was meant to be the segue between their self-titled debut LP.  Having not heard what it was meant to segue into, I was excited to hear the first tones of one of their newest float over the now-full Half-Neumos, the new sound a development and progression of the quiet tumult of preceding 2-track EP; intense, driving, gentle.  Jettie Wilce’s drums weave a pulsing groove under Sager Small’s bright, surf-y guitars and Timmy’s vocals, making the overall sound so goddamn appealing and comforting that it tames even the most savage of music writers.

Yet again, the short-handed staff resulted in someone forgetting to mic Jettie’s rig despite it sitting on stage all night.  It was a “minor” detail that was missed by many, but something was noticeably missing to me. Despite this, the band said nothing of it, playing on as if nothing were wrong, and providing a perfect cap for the night.  Half-Neumos, it turns out, is a good spot to see a show, having solved the usually bass-y sound issues presented by it’s larger brother.  I highly recommend it.