Matthew, Oh dear

Unpredictably good.

That would be the observation of even the most reserved and yet, unexperienced of the avant-garde electonic music scene. Matthew Dear, at the Talbott Street venue was anything but underwhelming.

Playing much from his - and his band's - latest album 'Black City' the tone was dark, as were the outfits. No one, in this venue, or even me expected such a glorious representation of the concept album several Indie-electro fans have raved about.

Prior to their engagement in Europe, starting Wednesday in Amsterdam, the tour took one last stop in Indianapolis of all places to a crowd, I found, to be uninformed of Dear and/or his latest release.

Sunday, normally reserved for drag shows at the Indy venue, witheld an assault of originial and seemingly brilliant orchestration by Dear and his bandmates who I believe to be releasing a new sound amongst a midst of regurgitated nonsense.

Playing much from their latest release, based on a concept story of the so-called 'Black City', the band played the title song, along with: 'I can't feel' 'You put a smell on me' and 'Monkey'. The setting and venue played well to the fashionable Dear and the sound was fantastic, if not, better than on the album. The performance even made the concept a bit more believable to those of us who have listened intently and begged for a live performance.

It is always good to land upon a show that overwhelms as few do anymore, and leaving, talking to the casual passersby, many were taken aback at the artistry they had just witnessed.

I encourage a listen, if you haven't heard. But, keep in mind this is a band worth seeing up close and encouraged by the originality of the sound few have been able to conjure in these dark days of music originality.