by Matt Gomez
Daily Lobo
Listening to The Oktober People play a live set is like someone whispering in your ear, lulling you in with the promise of a great secret and then shocking you with a roar of melody.
The four-piece band, comprised of Nate Santa Maria on guitar and vocals, Chris Moffatt on drums, Sean McCullough on guitar and Rhian Batson on bass, played a great set Saturday at the Lobo Theatre.
The Oktober People have a sound reminiscent of post-rock bands such as Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky with dashes of shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain. This blending of melody, effects-driven guitars and subdued lyrics create a unique sound for one of Albuquerque's finest acts.
Despite a turnout of around 50 people, The Oktober People played a powerful set.
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"I think it went pretty well," McCullough said. "It was pretty fun. I wish there would have been more people, but the (Lobo Theatre) is kind of a newer venue, and so not many people knew about it, I guess."
The Lobo Theatre had nice acoustics and was a good change of pace for the band, McCullough said.
"It was nice to play an all-ages place," he said. "We don't play too many all-ages shows, so that was a cool aspect of it. We're hoping to do that more, but there are not that many venues."
Highlights of the performance included the band's second song, "Projector Enthusiast," which took the crowd across a landscape of sound. The song began with hushed lyrics matched with reverberating guitar plucks and journeyed through crashing cymbals, pounding guitar chords and screaming vocals.
The only issues with the performance were the vocals, which were intermittently quieted below audible levels, and occasional off-tempo wanderings most likely caused by awkward reverbs. Both of these problems were mere hiccups in an otherwise fantastic performance.
The conclusion to The Oktober People's set was a 10-minute epic. The soft-loud progressions eased the crowd into a rhythm just long enough to shock it with huge crescendos and then set it back down with a tapering sound of distortion and feedback.
