Photos + Review: Om, Six Organs Of Admittance, Lichens @ ICA

Words & Photos by Tim Bugbee

The last time Om played town (in 2007), they refused to leave the stage at curfew (even after the house sound man turned off the PA and walked on stage to switch off their amps), urged the audience to spark up, and generally created an event.  Tonight would find them in the coolly-modern and sleek theater setting of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Arts, playing to a packed room with a new drummer and another wrinkle.  Emil Amos of Grails (another band on the bill that night) is now sitting in drum seat once filled by Chris Hakius, and the normally two-strong outfit was augmented 50% by the addition of Rob Lowe, who also pulled double-duty as Lichens, the first performer of the night.

For those not in the know, Om has pretty much carved out a new niche in music, that of the mantric metal groove.  If you think that an electric bass and drum kit can't fill a room with volume, than you've obviously never seen Ruins or Lightning Bolt.  Unlike those bands, Om is about the journey, the peristalsis created by Al Cisneros' throbbing bass tones, and propelled along by Emil's fiery fills and cymbal crashes.  Their new (and quite excellent) God Is Good record (out now on Drag City) is the first to have Emil on board (not counting the Conference Live record, a re-creation of the 2nd Om record, Conference of the Birds) and from what I've seen and read, opinion seems to be split on his contributions.  Some say he's too flashy and doesn't allow the songs to ooze and breathe, but I'm of the opinion that while he doesn't have the solid, workman-like style of Haikus, who reminded me of Vulcan forging weapons of incredible strength as he methodically bashed his kit, Emil's drumming fits in quite nicely with the evolving nature of what Om is becoming.  Aside from lead-off track "Thebes" (which wasn't played), the new record has a lot more texture and some overt nods to Indian and other musics, a musical landscape that Grails travels frequently.  This is also where Rob Lowe came in quite fittingly.  He didn't play much, but when he lent a guitar line, some keyboard fill, tambourine, or his incredible keening vocals, they were exactly what was needed at exactly the right time.  If Om were to permanently expand to a trio, I would not complain.  This was sublime stuff, especially on "Cremation Ghat II." 

One could tell that Al was a bit perturbed that their volume was limited by the venue (obviously trying to avoid any valuable art pieces being vibrated right off the wall and onto the floor), but the glassed-in environs created plenty of reverb from the four bass cabinets that Al used, with the sharp crack of Emil's snare firing to the back of the room, when he wasn't either spraying cymbal crashes or methodically calling out a rhythm on his ride cymbal.  They ended the show with a ~25 minute version of "At Giza" which brought them right to, but not exceeding, curfew. 

Six Organs of Admittance is Ben Chasny with whomever he wants to enlist at any given time...I've seen him completely solo, playing w/ Ethan Miller (also of Comets on Fire with Ben), as a trio with Hush Arbors bass player Keith Wood and Sunburned drummer John Moloney, and last year playing electric with Elisa Ambrogio of Magik Markers.  This would be a return to the acoustic setting, and he'd revisit some of his earlier recordings ("Dust and Chimes") and generally displaying his open-tuning prowess of working his way around raags just as nimbly as Fahey or Jack Rose.  After a solo instrumental, he was mainly joined by Andrew Mitchell, also playing acoustic, and later free drummer Chris Corsano came out to lend some clatter and controlled rolls, with metal bowls on drum heads, and sometimes sawing a bow against the edge of a cymbal to create a high-pitched drone.  The last song was just Ben and Chris setting the controls for the heart of the sun, playing freely in complete abandon.  Ben's one of my favorite guitar players, and tonight he was in a good mood and totally on.  Great performance.

Rob Lowe opened the evening with a performance that is unlike any other.  Seated in the front, with a microphone and some pedals, he asked for the house lights to be brought down to about the wattage output of a firefly, and began to create a mosaic of textures and sounds using just his vocals, a delay pedal, some additional effects and some samples (he kicked on one sample much louder and earlier than he wanted, and stopped the piece briefly, lamenting the outcome of a speedy soundcheck).  At times sounding like a chorus of alien birds, other times like a pod of mutant whales from the lower reaches of the ocean, Rob built layers and layers of tones and harmonics into a beautiful weave of drone.

More photos of the show below...