By: David Schultz

For Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Steven Spielberg envisioned music as the most basic form of communication. Since musical tones affect the brain and touch the soul at its most primitive and sensorial cores, the director credibly imagined that two different species could establish the most elementary contact by replaying five notes to each other over a state-of-the-art sound system. While Spielberg may have overestimated the power of music as an information delivery system, he did correctly assess that, regardless of spoken language, music enters the brain and pleases the psyche at its deepest emotional level. U-Melt may not have found the key to communicating through the power of song during their weekend run of shows at New York City’s Sullivan Hall but for those who were willing, Rob Salzer, Zac Lasher, Adam Bendy and George Miller spoke to the part of their existential soul that responds to live music performed at its highest level of perfection.

With the baseball season just around the corner, U-Melt got in the spirit of the season and played two for their hometown fans at the recently renovated Sullivan Hall. It’s the next phase of the band’s evolution; already masters of the late-night, after-hours marathon, U-Melt’s catalog now has the breadth and depth to allow them to play a weekend’s slate of show with Friday night’s gig taking on a completely different character from Saturday night’s.

The shows may have been completely different but they shared some thematically similarities. U-Melt used their first sets to introduce new songs as well as test themselves with a couple covers. On Friday they debuted “Twilight’s Song,” a slightly reggae tinged number and on the next night gave the first live rendering of the groove-heavy “Pura Vida.” In addition to covering the Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime,” they flexed their musical muscles by breaking out Frank Zappa’s “Cosmik Debris” and “Apostrophe.” U-Melt does more than just cover Zappa, they give his music the attention to detail that makes it so special. They don’t gloss over or simplify the complex changing time signatures and Miller simply channels the uniquely zany guitarist through his vocals.

A thinking man’s (and woman's) jamband, U-Melt turned their last set of the two nights into a musical palindrome, nesting songs inside of each other like a musical Matryoshka doll. Opening with Lasher’s “Clear Light,” they were only halfway through the tune before segueing into “Panacea.” They repeated the trick by moving through the first halves of “Schizophrenia,” “Late July’s Lament” and “Green Paper Society” before knocking off a complete run through “Kind Insight.” The band then hit reverse and finished off all the songs. For anyone who was able to follow along, the highbrow concept provided rich rewards. Of course, they worked the concept on multiple levels as the entire show was bookended by “A Robbin’s Tale, Parts 1 and 2.”

U-Melt seamlessly wove their sets together, pausing momentarily between songs when they bothered to stop at all. The band has grown into an extraordinarily tight unit and it’s allowed them to build on their own estimable individual skills. Salzer’s guitar solos are so tied in to each song that it sometimes takes a while before you realize that he’s tearing through one. Usually good for a couple funky bars whenever U-Melt plays “Air,” Bendy’s bass solos were a bit more prevalent and seeing and hearing him assert himself on stage is an extremely welcome addition to the band.

For their Saturday night encore, U-Melt shifted gears and opened their extra set with “Perfect World.” The leisurely paced tune, which concludes with a marvelous Salzer solo, has an understated strength and is a noticeably change of pace from the group’s high octane, prog-rock jams. “Perfect World” might very well be the song that attracts the casual fan to introduce themselves to the tightknit U-Melt community; it has all the makings of a crossover hit. For anyone so inclined to treat themselves to a fabulous evening of music, U-Melt will be heading out on an East coast tour before linking up with the summer festival circuit. If they are coming anywhere near you, just GO!

Labels: U-Melt