Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a man who clearly needs a lot of stimulation.
With The Mars Volta on hiatus and the At The Drive-In reunion over, 25 solo albums and three full- length films strapped to his paisley-clad chest, he decided to take a break and tour a real band.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another Rodriguez-Lopez project: his songs, his stimulus, his lineup, he’s the boss. Not so, apparently.
It was news to the packed Corner Hotel crowd on Sunday night when Lopez announced, “to save any confusion, this band is called Bosnian Rainbows.” Nice to see the audience’s confusion is the foremost of Lopez’ concerns.
Bosnian Rainbows were preceded by Melbourne’s own A Dead Forest Index – a minimalist two piece utilising the bleak instrumental sound of Joy Division coupled with harmonies and lush, soaring vocals reminiscent of Radiohead.
Though talented, their set was lacking in diversity; most of the crowd wandering out for cigarettes half way through.
When Bosnian Rainbows emerged, Teri Gender Bender (formerly of Le Butcherettes) transfixed the audience not only with her compelling voice, full of raw emotion and pitch-perfect, but with her ominously nocturnal, eminently unnatural writhing and scraping, creeping around the stage like a demented predator.
Occasionally at the height of her dementia, Lopez would join the parade, allowing his signature Ibanez to swing him across the stage in furious arcs, like a bug clinging to a windscreen wiper.
Drummer Deantoni Parks, also of The Mars Volta, was a little distracted for theatrics, given that he was busy playing both the drums and the keys at the same time, and keyboardist/synth/bass player Nicci Kasper remained hunched over his layered keyboards for the entire set.
Despite Gender Bender’s unhinged, spiderish performance and Lopez’ psychedelic riffs, The Bosnian Rainbows seemed relatively tame compared to the mind-bending layers of intensity and psychedelia, spread like Nutella across the minds of audiences lucky enough to have seen any of Lopez’ other projects live.
There were hooks, memorable lyrics with transparent meanings, and for the most part, Lopez himself stood at the back and played along benignly, only once or twice unleashing a full torrent of his trademark Orange-toned shredding.
Despite the lack of furious shamanistic intensity however, the show was enthralling.
Musically it was at once roomy and washy, tight and direct. There were layers of haunting vocal delay amidst stabs and spurts of piercing guitar, a fluid wall of keys kept in check by Parks’ watertight drumming.
Meanwhile the lyrics which, though sometimes bizarre, were audible, memorable and to some extent, relatable.
Even considering the outrageous amount of material Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has written, played and produced in the last 15 years; given the nature of his unrestrained style it may be hard for some people to fully appreciate the genius of his avant-garde vision.
Bosnian Rainbows however, is – in his own words – “a real band”, a collaboration, a group effort between a raft of super-talented, visionary musicians who have put together something new, creative, and accessible to just about anybody with an open mind.
Check out the photo gallery of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’ Bosnian Rainbows here.
