While it’s far from a revolutionary statement to call the music of Chromatics “ethereal”, they might embody the definition of that word far better than any other band. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the band transformed itself midway through its lifespan when guitarist Adam Miller, left as the only original member of the band, brought the project to the Italian, Do It Better music label in 2007 just in time for the release of Night Drive, a seminal album for the band that marked a turning point in its sound.
Three new members: drummer Nat Walker, label-runner Johnny Jewel, and vocalist and guitarist Ruth Radelet rounded out this new vision. Anchored by Radelet’s beautiful, faraway vocals, the band dove deep into the Italian tradition of synth-pop and almost overnight became a staple of the genre.
Apart from one LA concert in 2014, the Chromatics haven’t toured in six years, and their return to Boston, to co-headline the Royale Nightclub with label mates Desire as part of their “Double Exposure” tour, is even longer overdue.
That last full tour was in support of Kill for Love, a 2012 release which is technically the band’s most recent LP, though they’ve been busy since with a deluge of remixes, expanded editions, and, most tantalizingly of all, a series of singles that hint at the release of the band’s long-gestating album Dear Tommy. Bolstered by an appearance on cult TV series Twin Peaks, where auteur David Lynch recruited the band to perform a live rendition of their gorgeous single ‘Shadow’, the band have ostensibly been building towards a new release ever since.
Twin Peaks was a perfect venue for their reemergence as well, with the band appearing in one of the show’s iconic “Bang Bang Bar” scenes, which in the third season of the show were extended dream sequences distinct from the rest of the show. Characters seen nowhere else gathered having conversations about other figures the audience had never glimpsed. These bizarre denouements filmed in parallel with the performances of bands like Chromatics as the backdrop. It’s a match made in heaven, as the music of Chromatics exudes a natural mystery, owing largely to the alluring yet minimal production of Johnny Jewel.
At Royale, the band presented a comprehensive setlist, with a meticulously-curated slew of graphics to match. With a screen behind them and two vertical displays flanking them on either side of the stage, the show is as much a visual delight as an auditory one.
The band’s graphics depicted Radelet and Jewel in the style of movie posters, bearing large block text and an R-rating. One showed Radelet standing amid the deep red curtains and zebra pattern of Twin Peaks’ unmistakable Black Lodge. The lights imbued the dense fog with soft blues, reds, and purples, creating a visual language all their own as the band smoothly, effortlessly dove between album tracks like ‘Night Drive’ and ‘Back from the Grave’ as well as new singles like ‘Blue Girl’.
Chromatics have always maintained a beautiful love affair with with the music of others as well. Both Night Drive and Kill for Love featured iconic covers, and as the night drew to a close, the band made those forays into the past a spectacle. The main set ended with their cover of Neil Young’s ‘Into the Black’, and Radelet emerges solo to begin the encore with a stripped-down rendition of Springsteen classic ‘I’m On Fire’. In her hands the songs are stately, barely more than her voice and a single guitar reverberating into the night, and yet they carry a power to match the originals by virtue of their singular sound.
From that emotional high the band returns to the stage in full to perform ‘Shadow’, the effervescent track that captivated so many on Twin Peaks. Its beautiful synthscape soundtracks an ambiguous set of Radelet’s lyrics detailing a bittersweet end.
“Now you’re just a stranger’s dream / I took your picture from the frame / and now you’re nothing like you seem”, she sings over Walker’s timely drumming and Jewel’s tearful synths. But it was only the penultimate song, as the band closed with their cover of ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’, stripping back the bombast of one of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love standouts into a dazzling, minimal masterpiece carried by the band’s take on its iconic synth line.
While the band didn’t deign to mention the status of Dear Tommy, Chromatics’ first expansive tour since 2013 proved that their existing body of work and unique take on 80s Italian synth-pop are as timeless as ever.
We may be seven years on for Kill for Love, but new tracks like ‘Time Rider’, released just this year, have reassured the band’s faithful that they’re still masters of their domain, and that whenever Tommy does arrive, it promises to be a force.
Review and photos by Collin Heroux
