David Lynch is well known for expanding the boundaries of the bizarre, and we’ve talked before about the peculiarities of the boys in Athens, Georgia’s Reptar, so it seemed only fitting that one of their very first European shows should be at Lynch’s new private member club in Paris. A decade after the release of 2001’s Mulholland Drive, Lynch was able to make the club from the film a reality- designing everything himself from the gold leafed tunnels to the minimal 1950’s inspired furniture. Last year the cult director told UK paper The Guardian, “Silencio is something dear to me. I wanted to create an intimate space where all the arts could come together. There won’t be a Warhol-like guru, but it will be open to celebrated artists of all disciplines to come here and program or create what they want.”
The band was originally set to play at 10:30 and I arrived just minutes after only to discover a closed stage curtain and a mostly empty club. I looked around the venue, wandering past the smoking room full of illuminated faux trees and into the vacant velvet couched movie theater, where a documentary about Italian plastic chairs was playing. I finally ran into a member of the band and found out they had decided to go on as close to midnight as possible, when everyone would be allowed to enter the club. Silencio’s membership policy, with annual fees ranging from €420-€1500, allows only members and one or two guests (depending on your membership status) to enter before midnight, usually well after their invited artists have performed. Thus, the problem with Silencio is the exclusivity of it all. While the center does invite musicians and artists of an esteemed caliber to exhibit in their space, they do their best to keep everyone else out. Silencio seems less like a place for art lovers to experience magic moments or to be challenged by something new, but a place where the wealthy elite come simply to be entertained.
At 11:45 the red curtain lifted on the stage as Reptar began their set with the bouncy “Isoprene Bath” before heading straight into “Sebastian”. The five-piece were full of energy, expressing their excitement to be playing music in another country when a few years ago it was hard to imagine leaving their own town. The crowd was a bit stiff at first but after some encouragement from the band the audience began to move their feet. Newest member Jace Bartet might look a little out of place at first, but he brings an exciting vibe to the group dynamic. Even though the instrumentation was slightly more stripped down than usual, the songs sounded full and vibrant. The band played a 9-song set primarily from their newest album Body Faucet (including favorites “Houseboat Babies” and “Thank You Gliese 370 b”) and a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill”, with keyboardist William Kennedy springing up and down as singer Graham Ulicny spasms and expels.
The night, overall, was a unique experience, but not for any of the reasons you’d expect for something so closely related to David Lynch. No one talked backwards, danced to music that wasn’t there, or possessed superhuman strength. What I got instead was better- an opportunity to see a band perform music they genuinely hope will excite and inspire, a group desperately trying to convey some meaning even when all around them it’s just smoke and mirrors.
