Darsombra lights up at O’Brien’s Pub on Thursday, 19 October 2023.

Dyr Faser, FEEP, and The O-Zones sandwich the fourstack bill.

Not so long ago Hump Day News lampooned O’Brien’s Pub for the veritable Lighthouse of Alexandria emitting from the bathrooms (“Bright Lights, Big Shitty”).

No music writer goes to a show planning to lead with the bathroom feng shui. But it was what it was, and it begged comment.

Happy to report, the situation is much improved lately. Maybe completely fixed? The psychedelic lightshow put on by Darsombra would have been impossible without the bathroom door shut and the main room dark.

Was it a sticky hinge that kept the door ajar or something else entirely? Either way, it’s fixed and lovely.

Plunge us into the stormy darkness!

The floorplan of O’Brien’s precludes any deeper fix. The bassist or lead guitarist will always be jamming three feet away from someone pissing on the other side of the wall. But give us the proper mood lighting, a can of beer, and swirling sounds, and so much else will be forgiven.

Extra points for Twen on the house mix.

The O-Zones

Here’s another lightshow that ran free in the proper darkness. The O-Zones rolled five-deep with a headspinning, late 60s Factory vibe. Less Velvet Underground, more The Village Fugs. Less Jayne County, more Wayne County. A medium tempo groovy grind.

FEEP

A bit of an outlier on this gangpsych bill. The fourpiece FEEP plays with the lights on. But there’s a little sugar in their salad, ample FX at their feet to turn their rock n roll on its side. Sometimes on its head.

When you see so many flashing lights, buttons, and bells connected to the guitar, it makes you wonder whether effects pedals use rare and precious metals like smartphones. You know, that tiny bit of Europium, Cerium, Neodymium, Europium, Yttrium, or Terbium that’s super toxic and mined by international conglomerates regularly associated with human rights violations.

It’s one of those banal atrocities committed every time you check Fantasy Football scores or surf Instagram. Do effects pedal owners take a bite out of the same apple?

Darsombra

What is this band? Darsombra. A psych two-piece from Charm City. But so much more.

There are artists and bands who put out & perform music because they’ve got a lot they want to accomplish on stage. Playing music is one way to punch your ticket onto a stage. For some it’s the quickest ticket, and the quickest ticket is the best.

Har Mar Superstar comes to mind. The man was a pocket RnB-laced rock opera. How about (New England) Patriots, Pink Floyd, Walter Sickert and The Army of Broken Toys, The Flaming Lips, Phish on New Year’s Eve and Halloween, or Tim Heidecker when he rolls out his music revues?

Each act has its own variety of musical chops. Fair enough. But you get the sense when they take the stage that something more is at stake. They don’t just want to play a set – they want to supply some good, old-fashioned spectacle.

Darsombra brought the spectacle. Maybe you heard songs off their latest 2xLP Dumesday Book. Or maybe you didn’t. A lot to process.

Extra points for the gong.

Dyr Faser

The three-piece psych troupe Dyr Faser have also been known to bring the lightshow. But how to follow the cornea smashing set that preceded them? The Flying V-core rockers used their six-strings to draw constellations in chiaroscuro across the inner galaxy of the atrium at the bar that Great Scott forgot.

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