Even After 15 Years of Silence, Lift to Experience Can Still Destroy Everything

The recently reunited Lift to Experience played their set at Guy Garvey’s Meltdown earlier today, and by all indications, they were good… really good. Here’s a small slice of the reactions on Twitter:

Indeed, if this short clip is any indication, it was well nigh a religious experience (npi).

Prior to playing at Meltdown, the Texas trio played several warmup shows. A few clips from those shows have popped up on YouTube, and they are magnificent.

I’m pretty sure I started tearing up around the 5:35 mark; there’s nothing else on God’s green earth quite like Josh Pearson’s guitar tones.

One of the few passages of music that will reduce me to sobs nearly every time is the final minutes of “Into the Storm” where Pearson intones “We shall be free” over a maelstrom of feedback and thunderous drumming; chalk it up to a heady mix of heavenly shoegaze psychedelia, a sense of Christian apocalypticism that I acquired as a young ‘un, and a profound yearning for that which this world cannot offer. Watching this particular performance was no different. While the sound quality wasn’t the greatest, the energy and intensity came through loud and clear — and so did the tears.

Suffice to say, I’m very jealous of those lucky souls who got to see any instance of the reformed Lift to Experience. Here’s hoping some high quality recordings of these recent shows start popping up soon.