LIVE | Explosions in the Sky

Photographed by Alligator Jesus.

Explosions in the Sky makes people hear things. Makes me hear things anyway. Crossing Sunset Boulevard to the fabled Hollywood Palladium I could’ve sworn I heard voices bubbling up over the racket coming outta the venue and ricocheting off the surrounding buildings. Crazed voices. Desperate and afraid. It brought to mind the kind of plaintive, mawing yowl that might spring from the desert in the middle of a star-shattered night. It also made my skin crawl. And it was divine. 

Of course I heard no such thing. Not really. Oh, there was a racket alright. Scratching, soaring guitars snaking their way through the traffic. A chasm of churn to the earth beneath my feet. That is to say a buzz, as well as a rumble. But no vocals. None. How could there be? Explosions in the Sky doesn’t have a singer. Never has. Never will. So I guess those voices I heard were all in my head.

You bet. Yet inside the historic hall I get the sneaky suspicion that I’m not the only one who hears voices when Explosions takes to the stage. Thousands of fans stand, still as silence, while wave upon wave of roar washes over them. Sometimes the roar gets quiet. Other times it’s downright ferocious. Yet at all times the only real movement comes from the gang of West Texans responsible for unleashing the thing in the first place.

Photographed by Alligator Jesus.

Then the roar begins to fold in on itself. Like some mad monster of rock version of Alvin Lucier’s “I Am Sitting in a Room.” The more Explosions explode the sky, the more I sense movement. Not from the crowd, mind you. But throughout the room at large. Yes, that’s it. Colors are coming from the sound itself. A kaleidoscopic array of hues too numerous to mention, let alone identify. Careening. Colliding. Enveloping the very air we breathe. 

Now I know why nobody’s moving -- they don’t wanna lose sight of the sound. 

And here I thought making me hear things was a neat trick. Making me see things too? That’s a whole ‘nother dimension in trickery. By name it’s synesthesia. By definition it’s “a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.” (Thanks Wiki!) You know, having the capacity to taste colors or to hear pictures or -- yes! -- to see sounds.

Does one have to be a verified synesthete in order to see colors when Explosions sounds off? Nope. Because Explosions makes synesthetes of us all.

Add that to your catalog of inexplicable experiences.

There’s more to be said about Explosions in the Sky’s triumphant return to The Hollywood Palladium -- the songs in their set (including a killer “The Only Moment We Were Alone”), the why behind the tour (it’s the band’s 20th anniversary), as well as their place in pop culture (be it Gregg Araki’s Kaboom, Michael Moore’s Capitalism, David Gordon Green’s Prince Avalancheor the Friday Night Lights franchise). There’s also much to be said about the legendary venue itself (which has been serving wowed crowds since 1940 and has featured everyone from Sinatra to Jay-Z). But to say any more would be somewhat of a disservice to the band that eschews words, not to mention to the voices my head so blessedly heard.