by Brian Slattery | Sep 23, 2022 8:31 am

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Posted to: Arts & Culture, Music, Upper State Street

The images up on the screen at Gather on State Street on Thursday night were from the Canadian mockumentary comedy series Trailer Park Boys, but they were altered, made psychedelic. The ambient music behind it felt sad and urgent. It was a quick reminder to the people filing into the space just how much a few images and the right music can alter the vibe of a room — fitting, as Gather was performing yet another transformation, from coffee shop to after-hours lounge.

In the past year, Gather has established itself as one of New Haven’s most eclectic venues. It begins with the way it functions every day as a coffee shop — a quiet place to meet, have some very high-quality coffee and tea — and every night as an event space. It continues with the sheer variety of programming, driven mostly from the ground up, by people who want to throw events there. This month features everything from open mics and community jams to drag shows, punk shows, jazz shows, a film club, and nights for trivia and Dungeons and Dragons. 

Gather has developed a following, but in keeping with its eclecticism, some of the regulars don’t always meet each other until something, in this case electronic music, brings them together. As people took places on Gather’s couches, strangers began talking to strangers, divulging that they came to Gather all the time, and marveling that it had taken so long for them to connect.

“ I should come here more often,” one of them mused.

The first set of music, from 7ways, clarified a certain communitarian spirit around electronic music that helped bring people together. Setting up his gear on the floor, 7ways worked the controls while kneeling on a pillow on the floor, one hand moving across knobs, sliders, and switches while the other held a microphone. People came in close to watch him create moody, industrial music that combined fuzzy drones, distant chimes, vocals awash in echo, and beats that sounded like they could be made from heavy machinery. The audience stayed quiet as one sonic idea flowed into the next, and applauded when he was done.

Ye Gods began with an announcement into the microphone. ​“ Tonight’s performance is going to be a little bit weird,” he said. ​“ I don’t know what to expect. I’m basically going to be sampling my voice, and we’re going to go astray from there.” The statement began again; it took a moment for the audience to realize that Ye Gods had, in fact, sampled his announcement, and it drew a ripple of laughter. The announcement repeated. Then Ye Gods stretched out the words, stretched it out even further until he created a single sustained pitch out of a syllable. He pulled a groove out of a consonant. 

He built the music from there, subdividing the slow beat, subdividing again, adding more percussion until he’d set up a surging rhythm. He sang into the microphone, introducing a newly human element, then sampled that too. The electronics grew denser. A cacophony of voices rose from the background, crescendoing into a break that was itself broken by a buzzing drone. The percussion returned, a menacing beat saturated with swirling sound. He added lush, haunting chords to ground it, then dismantled it all step by step, ending with another buzzing drone that crackled like a short circuit. The audience broke into cheers.

“ Ladies and gentlemen,” Ye Gods said by way of introduction, ​“ for the first time live in America, Vercetti Technicolor!”

By now it was getting late, and the crowd was a little smaller, though still robust. Vercetti Technicolor played the right mood for the room, settling into a deep, easy groove into which he built a scintillating harmonic background, a throbbing bass. Where the previous two sets had been full of drama, Vercetti Technicolor played it cool, introducing variations in the music by dropping elements and adding them back in, sometimes letting the harmonic structure float in the air all by itself, sometimes giving the drums a turn. It was music for the people who didn’t want to go home just yet, who weren’t ready for the night to end, and thanks to the music, it didn’t have to, at least for a little while longer.

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