Synth-pop bands Cold Cave and Nite Jewel got stuck in the snow in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and couldn't make it into Knoxville for their scheduled show at Pilot Light. Never mind, though--local duo Damaged Patients more than filled in the headlining spot with their public debut.
Damaged Patients--the enigmatic Jennifer Toland on vocals, Ben Tramer on drums, and a preset synth--performed a short 20-minute set of nearly a dozen very brief songs that channeled both Joy Division and classic 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins. Toland sang in a flattened but not quite emotionless voice over melancholy synth lines while Tramer banged a steady, heavy martial beat with mallets on a tom/snare/cymbal set-up and two separate video screens showed a close-up of Toland's mouth as she sang and a wide-open human eyeball.
A sizable crowd had come to the show, presumably to see Cold Cave and Nite Jewel--one group had, in fact, driven up from Florida to see them--but got way more than their money's worth from Damaged Patients. (Never mind that there was no cover.)
Damaged Patients--the enigmatic Jennifer Toland on vocals, Ben Tramer on drums, and a preset synth--performed a short 20-minute set of nearly a dozen very brief songs that channeled both Joy Division and classic 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins. Toland sang in a flattened but not quite emotionless voice over melancholy synth lines while Tramer banged a steady, heavy martial beat with mallets on a tom/snare/cymbal set-up and two separate video screens showed a close-up of Toland's mouth as she sang and a wide-open human eyeball.
A sizable crowd had come to the show, presumably to see Cold Cave and Nite Jewel--one group had, in fact, driven up from Florida to see them--but got way more than their money's worth from Damaged Patients. (Never mind that there was no cover.)
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