Running the Numbers: Tricot at Paradise Rock Club, June 9, 2018

A show at the Paradise Rock Club in Allston, Mass., on June 9 was a collection of math rock bands from the last two decades, some old, some new. The band I was there for was Tricot, an almost entirely female math rock band from Japan. This was the band’s second United States tour and, knowing the gamble of planning and financing an international tour, this would probably be my only chance to see them live. While waiting in line the majority of people were here for the headlining band, CHON.

The genre of math rock can easily be summed up by a unique tempo and switching time signatures, as well as stacking rhythm and lead parts as an extended fugue piece. It is hard to separate math rock bands’ timbres from one another. A pitfall that some bands fall into is that they will start to drift from the rhythm of the song and all the instruments will just start competing with each other instead of working together. This will often create a song that becomes oversaturated by guitar riffs or drum fills that take away from the core of the song.

Tricot was able to find a middle ground and be able to hold together the rhythm of each song while adding flourishes here and there, all within with a 15-minute time slot. I understand with a show that has four bands on the bill some bands will have shorter set times, but for the distance that Tricot traveled, you would think they would have been given at least 30 minutes. I only hope that the impact the band is making on this tour will allow it to come back to the U.S. as headliners. If you want to learn more about Tricot, please visit their website and multiple streaming sites.

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