The music of Maserati is best appreciated under a live setting; the group’s tight musicianship and subtle power must be witnessed live in order to do their studio recording’s justice. Opening the show with robust beat-induced songs from their 2010 release Pyramid of the Sun, the four piece drive steadily through their set delivering powerful psych rock from beginning to end.
Their meditative and often repetitive instrumental-based pieces seemingly melt into one extended rock-mantra, slowly increasing in intensity until the calculated jam is over and the next begins.
The entire set was hypnotising and somewhat calming; despite the distortion and sequenced synthetic beats, the fairly placid Thursday night crowd was easily lulled into a cycle of concentration and submission. There was however, a collection of concertgoers unafraid to lose themselves in the spacious guitar loops and heavy driving beats, animating an otherwise almost docile gathering.
The band themselves weren’t particularly lively or interactive with their audience, yet the concentration and intensity of musicianship between them was clear in their infallible performance. Aided mostly by a light show, their movement and attentiveness is noticeably shared inward between band members and indicates their general awareness of each other’s playing.
Closing their set with a new offering including shared vocal duties from guitarist Coley Dennis and bassist Chris McNeal, they indicated a possible change in direction for the otherwise completely instrumental outfit. The song appeared to be a heavier departure from their previous work, but was received well from the crowd and rounded up what was mostly a mesmerising evening.
