(Photo: Kristin Knoll)
“I can’t believe we’re here,” said Kurt Feldman on stage at Glasslands on Saturday. Considering the rapturous, slightly disbelieving response of the crowd, they couldn’t believe it, either. They’d gathered for what was billed as The Depreciation Guild’s first show in more than two and a half years.
The Brooklyn shoegaze/chiptune band broke up in 2011, citing “creative differences,” and it appeared those differences still haven’t been resolved, as Feldman — the band’s co-founding vocalist and the drummer for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart — was joined only by another guitarist who was not a part of the original lineup. “This guy,” Feldman said, nodding at his friend onstage, “hasn’t played a show in, like, seven years.”
Kurt Feldman (Photo: Kristin Knoll)
Feldman strapped on his guitar, pressed a button on his laptop rig, and cued up the 8-bit Famicon-made drum loop that kicks off “In Her Gentle Jaws,” the title track to the band’s 2007 debut, which they played in its entirety. The Depreciation Guild’s music can basically be described as Super Mario shoegaze: breathy vocals broadened by reverb, crunchy guitars run through an enfilade of pedals, and video game melodies made on Nintendo 8-bit processors that could soundtrack 1991’s finest RPGs. As such, the band’s appeal tends to go deep rather than wide — despite the clear enthusiasm from the crowd, the show didn’t sell out.
No matter: those who attended clearly had a blast, and after adjusting the mix following the first few songs, In Her Gentle Jaws sounded as good as ever. Feldman appeared to grow in confidence, more comfortably finding his way around the songs as the night went along, not unlike regaining the use of a limb that’s lost feeling.
Here are some clips we found on YouTube.