Gig Recap: The Molds (2021.10.24)

The Molds – MAO Livehouse 2021.10.24

The Molds Stay Fresh at MAO

Sunday Night, The Molds took on a Full House at Maoooooo, proving that you can break past factory default settings to get that sweet, sweet musical resin injection. Let’s have a look.

– Philip Hsu, Contributing Writer

Beijing-origin The Molds have been around since 2006, so it would be expected that their music has crossed a number of genres since then. The resulting Psychedelic-Honky Tonk-Alt-Rock is an oddly specific but strangely pleasing genre, kind of like if Ambien existed during Johnny Cash’s touring days. A number of songs follow the Rolling Stones, others surf guitar a la Dick Dale, but in most work on display tonight The Molds have developed an impressive and unique sound of entirely their own making and creative impulse.

From the start of the performance, The Molds demonstrate advanced understanding of their sound and synchronization, with well-placed notes and melodies exacting well-formed songs. Catchy bass-drum rhythm features lead well into the often-groundbreaking “meat” of songs , with precision playing from all pieces. In Blue Moon, bells and chimes form a distinct sound, carving out attention and space of their own from an otherwise thick roast of a piece sung in the style of werewolf.

The Molds demonstrate deep study of music and instruments, and at times even go into Weezer territory, and not in a bad way – it lightens up the mood and sound in an otherwise generally heavy performance. With all this interesting material and a deep bench of ideas which continue to re-visit and re-define genres, The Molds are definitely worth a gander whenever they next visit your factory town or agricultural commune. You may not have heard anything like this before, and it won’t just be because you are so hardworking.

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