Color War Plays Mercury Lounge

The Mercury Lounge is darker than I’ve seen it before. Lindsay Mound grabs the mic and says, “This song is ‘SOS’.” She wastes no time. And neither do I. As soon as the first beat drops I close my eyes and I’m a teen in the back seat of a convertible roadster ripping down a lakeside highway. And all the while Giorgio Moroder’s beats are infecting me like a virus with no cure. And just like Moroder’s music did to me so many years ago, the thumping of SOS continues to build and build until I think I’m ready enough to face the oncoming crescendo. And then I open my eyes. I see Mound. She’s barely lit and Billy J’s layered synth is cascading throughout the Mercury Lounge. “I’m on fire! On fire! On Fire for you!” she tells the crowd as if she’s uttering the last incantation to make us hers. And it works. From that moment on the gateway into my past that Color War touched upon is blown wide open and I’ve been transported into a world I don’t fully know yet. But I’m willing to let Mound and J be my guide.

Color War

And they do so for the rest of the night. During songs like “SOS” and “Plate Tectonics” off their debut album “It Could Only Be This Way” Mound would shimmy and slide like a serpent dodging Billy J’s stabbing beats as they kept transporting the crowd from one reality to the next.

Color War

She might have sung the lyrics “If you don’t go / I don’t go” over and over, but for me there wasn’t really an option. By that time in “Plate Tectonic” I was already there.

Earlier in the night, The Mast brought an ethereal dream state to the night. Haleh’s voice looped over Matt’s varied beats has a lonely and haunting feel to it. Each whisper from her mouth, repeated through the tech and accompanied by droning beats, was just enough to make you know that though you may feel alone, The Mast’s music would be right there to envelope you.

The Mast

Kicking off the night was Rush Midnight. A wave of fluid beats covering distinctly new-wave dance vibes. Russ Manning, aka Rush Midnight, made me feel like he had stolen the dance records of my youth. But if he keep building on that sound and those grooves, it’s ok, he can keep them.