On an unexpectedly warm March Friday night in Buffalo, Consider the Source, with the support of Mono Means One, returned to Buffalo Iron Works on their spring tour to celebrate their masterpiece The Stare in its entirety and play to dedicated fans from across Western New York.
Mono Means One, an instrumental progressive psychedelic rock trio, led by Consider the Source’s own John Ferrara (bass), Isaac Yong (keyboard) and Rob Madore (drums) launched the night off with immense energy pairing Ferrara’s bass tapping techniques with Yong’s disassociating synthesizers that awoke the crowd for what was to come. Mono Means One played songs from their album, Listless Playthings of Enormous Forces, which was recorded in a yurt in North Carolina.
NYC’s Consider the Source is no stranger to Western New York. Consider the Source plays in Buffalo at least once a year and headlined Folkfaces Fest last year. The crowd appeared to be very well-versed in Consider the Source’s catalogue inviting them to unleash whatever musical expression they wished to embark on. The trio comprising double neck guitarist Gabriel Marin, bass virtuoso John Ferrara and drummer Jeff Mann, began their electric set rooted in their rock, jazz, world music sounds which would have you questioning what time signature they were in and how the drummer, Jeff Mann, can follow the transitions so eloquently.
The set evolved from world music inspirations and a special improvised song for Buffalo to their latest album, The Stare, which teleported the audience into a heavier night. Consider the Source has been playing for twenty years and still was able to manufacture a new sound that varies from their past albums but still sounds like it could be done by no other band.
CTS opened with the heavy, yet melodic “Trial by Stone” which locked in the crowd for the next forty minutes. “I Can See My Eyes” explored the range that CTS has as it slowed the energy down into more psychedelic, mysterious melodies. The album ebb and flowed between storms of heavy progressive melodies on tracks like “Mouthbreather” and “Preemptive Vengeance” to familiar nods to world music like their rendition of “New World Čoček”, a cover of Balkan/klezmer saxophonist Matt Darriau. After the album was finished, I immediately went to the merchandise table to buy the stunning white and black striped album on vinyl so I could experience The Stare again when I got home.
After finishing the album, the audience was left with a feeling of what more could Consider the Source play for us. The night already felt complete. To finish off the show, Consider the Source dipped into older songs and then invited Mono Means One onstage to sing the eeriest version of Happy Birthday I have ever heard.
In a time when music can often all sound reminiscent of another band, it is refreshing to see a band who truly sounds like no one else but Consider the Source.
Consider the Source’s spring tour continues with a variety of supporting artists in addition to Mono Means One, such as, the Paulsibilities, TR, Balkun Brothers, Hambone, Octave Cat, Squawk, Zuck’s Turkey Farm, Mungion, Dual Pathways and Lespecial. If you haven’t seen Consider the Source before, you should ask yourself what are you waiting for? You can catch them again in New York in Albany at the Lark Hall on April 20.
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