Austin has no shortage of musical acts, so it’s little surprise that many decide to collaborate on side projects. Such is the case with Loma, a team up between Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg and the duo Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record. This resulted in a critically praised eponymous album and a subsequent tour of the U.S. and Europe. The overall sound is a mix of electronics, eastern music, minimalist melodies, and Meiburg harmonizing with Cross’s ethereal vocals. On April 21, a good-sized crowd convened at The North Door to watch a hometown show.
With how mellow the dynamic of the album is, it wasn’t surprising that all of the musicians on stage sat down for the entirety of the show, except for singer, Emily Cross, who was the center point of the show. At one point during the night, Cross declared, “About ninety percent of you are my friends,” before saying how good it was to be home after being on the road. The hour long set was filled with every song from the album. While the slightly faster paced songs like “Relay Runner” and “Dark Oscillations” had some in the crowd nodding along, the sheer breadth of the soundscapes on the other songs kept the attention of the audience throughout the set. The band made great use of minor chord progressions to create a dark feel on most tracks, and listening to them play “White Glass” sounded especially sinister in a live setting. Closing out the set with their first single “Black Willow” even found a few audience members dancing and one person even seemed to have a very emotional response to it.
Recruiting a couple of additional members for live shows, like Shearwater’s Emily Lee on keyboards, helped to exactly mimic the expansive sounds that Loma has been able to make on their album. The decision to have all the musicians sit during the set did make the show seem a bit sterile, almost as if everyone was just extremely talented studio musicians instead of a band that plays together. However, the musical chemistry that each member shared was truly something to behold. Being that that Loma is a collaboration, there is no guarantee that they will be touring again any time soon, but for anyone that likes to bathe in slowcore-influenced soundscapes their album is a must listen.
