the-antlers

The Antlers and Yellow Ostrich, both of Brooklyn, NY, toured through San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on Friday night as the former forges on with a national tour supporting their new Familiars album.

Yellow Ostrich released their Cosmos album earlier this February via Barsuk. After finishing up a national tour of their own behind the album, they’ve teamed up with the Antlers for summer dates. Certainly, a band who names their album after Carl Sagan’s work and creates equally ethereal tunes is an apt fit for the Antlers. But it was great to see Yellow Ostrich has grown into their own on the live circuit. Fans were receptive to the new material, signaling a level of familiarity with Cosmos. And, at times, Yellow Ostrich’s set offered some of the livelier moments of the bill.

If you’ve followed our site over the past few years, you’re probably aware we love the Antlers. As I pointed out to the band, we’ve been big fans of everything since Hopsice. It’s been a pleasure to watch The Antlers carefully toe the line between a consistent identity and pushing boundaries through Burst Apart, Drift Drive and now Familiars. The Antlers brought Familiars to life in Great American Music Hall with a set list that, appropriately, heavily favored the new album. With the addition of a fourth touring member, the brass elements of Familiars were well represented. At times, they worked a two-horn arrangement, with Darby handling the extra duties.

Peter claims the band reached a level of peace through the creation of the album and that came through during the set. They maintained their characteristic swelling, poignant sound. Yet—having seen them multiple times before—the Familiars based set did come across particularly mellow and settled. Given that this was Friday night, parts of the set felt a bit too mellow and it would’ve been nice to hear, say, “Parentheses” liven things up a bit. But, in fairness, we’re discussing the band responsible for Hospice and closing sets with “Putting the Dog To Sleep”. So in actuality, the Antlers simply did what the Antlers do best.

You can catch the Antlers on tour for a handful more summer dates. Familiars is available on Anti Records now.

Antlers Tour Dates
Jul 16 Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA
Jul 17 The Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
Jul 19 Trees – Dallas, TX
Jul 20 The Parish – Austin, TX
Jul 21 Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX
Jul 23 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Jul 24 Kings – Raleigh, NC
Jul 25 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
Jul 26 Webster Hall – New York, NY

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