all photos by Morgen Schuler
The music of noise-pop quintet Crystal Stilts has a versatility to it that not many bands can achieve - it can be equally enjoyed while energetically moving around near the front of the stage or while soaking up the fuzzy vibes in the back. The one constant is that their wall of melodic distortion is going to be an early weekend favorite at whatever pace you choose to experience it.
Formed in Florida in 2003 by vocalist Brad Hargett and guitarist JB Townsend, the quintet first turned heads with their 2008 debut Alight of Night and they’re still going strong four years later. They’ve spent most of 2012 touring behind last December’s Radiant Door EP, and as they return to Seattle for the Capitol Hill Block Party, their rough, post-punk influenced music will have a nice echo as it carries through the halls of Neumos Friday evening at 5:15.
But before playing at Neumos, Crystal Stilts opened KEXP’s live broadcast downstairs at Barboza, filling the club with ghosts of miniskirts past courtesy of their dark ’60s pop sound.
Bright guitar flashes shone underneath Hargett’s brooding vocals, with hints of surf rock to bring their set to a rousing conclusion.
