Sydney band Decoder Ring have returned from a near three-year absence from the stage to tour their expansive double album They Blind the Stars, And Wild Team. The ever-musically maturing Bridezilla provide a particularly pleasing prelude, offering an interesting balance between singer Holiday's maniacally deep and unique voice with the chaotic melding of guitar, violin and saxophone-driven instrumental interludes.

Decoder Ring in 2009 are all about the instrumental interludes. Tonight they tie in microscopic visions on a huge screen behind the band on-stage to accompany their macro-level sounds. While the images feature utterly intricate footage of cells dividing and extreme close-ups of minute critters, the soundtrack was anything but diminutive. The new album's songs have been meticulously constructed from an amazing battery of sourced and summoned sounds which, when even further enhanced by the live volume and the visuals, make for an especially stimulating experience.

It was almost like the band had superseded Philip Glass and were providing a live soundtracking and screening of one of the Qatsi films, but with a bit more nature-based and organic bent than an intrusive human life one. Rather than fixate on the more primal and physical motivations that drives most music, Decoder Ring seem more attached to the earthy, natural rhythms of the world. So despite the fact that outside was a typically trashily throbbing Friday night in the midst of the most populous city in the country, inside the Metro we were taken on a fantastic journey to experience the very pulse of our planet. Really great.

Andy Ryan
31 Aug 2009
yourgigs.com

Touring in support of their fourth album, Sydney locals Decoder Ring led the audience through the Odyssey of their double CD release 'They Blind the Stars, And The Wild Team'. They seemingly transported the audience with dreamy sound scapes that slowly built to inspire a dancing frenzy that would then wind down in a post-rock style breakdown. True to the successful soundtrack in their past (the 2004 film Somersault and Decoder Ring seem to be as one) the band brought a multi-sensory experience complete with a projectionist running film over the sonic exploration happening on stage.

triplej