Sailing in search of the climax
It’s too quiet for a Thursday night at Bohemians. But maybe that’s a good thing as We Set Sail have the stillness to perform their intricacies to a few of us who really wants to be there. It is nearing midnight. I have to sit through two bands prior to the headlining act. I feel as if I am fading, and a school night it is. I whisper to my partner, “Let’s try get through half the set and we can leave?”
We are stuck to our seats as We Set Sail arrives on stage. Even in their sound check, the intimate crowd surrounding the bar nears closer so they can watch. We realise we cannot leave after the first counts of eight. With an instrumental intuition and a collection of powerful peddles, the band is on the verge of exploding. Each time you think they are going to reach the climax of the song, they take you down two notches and rear you in again.
They play with finesse, with the grace and greatness a musician needs. The small crowd behind and parallel to me cannot take their eyes of the five piece band. We are all in unison, tapping our feet on the floor and slowly moving our necks in a swaying motion. The flugelhorn creates the softest sound, caressing the precise beat of the drums in their entirety. Marné, the guitarist, leads his fingers away from his guitar, streaming them through the consciousness of the rhythm. He moves them from his instrument to the edge of the stage as if he were conducting an orchestra symphony. He makes me feel present. I don’t want the moment to end. You know how to tell if its good instrumental sounds? You have to forward to the crux and let the drama unfold. And this is exactly who and what they are becoming in this unravel of sentiment.
We Set Sail describe themselves as storytellers. They bear no words, but rather convey an emotion linked to the instrument they play. They believe their music is of a cinematic character, sometimes frail and delicate, and at other times, urgent and explosive, creating a wide emotional spectrum.
Here we are, with an adventure into the unknown, and we join them with no definite port in sight.
