05-02-2010 Om

Supports: Lichens; Venue: Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

In Utrecht (The Netherlands) there was an evening of down tempo music planned. Headlining was Om and support came from Lichens.

Lichens, is an act performed by the American Robert Lowe. After 90 Days Man (the band he was playing with) got into hiatus, he started focusing on a solo career. Lichens as an artist performed quite minimalistic. With only a chair, his guitar and his vocals it gave the impression that it would be calm, but the power of this act is that it is all about the details. When he entered the stage and went sitting down, some people in the audience were causing a bit rumor by whispering, but the other visitors “shhht” them as the music needs a lot of attention to actually get the details. Lichens works with a lot of loops and creates remarkable sounds with his guitar and then goes on with vocals, vocals without words to be precise, and creates a vulnerable atmosphere where various eyes were registering every movement made.
Clearly not everyone appreciated the music that was very calm. Mainly the girlfriends were rushing out to the bar after a couple of minutes, leaving the rest of the audience alone with Lichens for his 30 minute performance.

Om is an American band, touring with their fourth studio album “God is Good”. The duo Al Cisneros (bass and vocals) and Emil Amos (drums) was joined by Robert Lowe on stage today. The drone the band makes knows a steady foundation of which the band slowly built towards a climax. The main part of this performance is about the instrumental part, but vocals are coming in timed and well placed. Even though it is down tempo it seems to attract even the girlfriends that walked away during the support and gain their attention as well. The songs are somehow doomy, but brought with variation and a high level of fanaticism. The addition of Robert Lowe only opened more opportunity for the band to show they can think outside the box and implement different elements to the music, making it more unique.Om played an interesting set for a pretty filled venue. The climax of it all came in the encore when the intensity of the music came to its highest level. A wonderful show that made an impression on me.