By Jordan Petersen Kamp
The post-hardcore band La Dispute begins the North American tour behind their fourth LP Panorama this weekend with a pair of dates in their home state of Michigan (4/13 at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids and 4/15 at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac).
La Dispute is distinguished for their meticulous vision on highly structured and narrative albums. Using stories and an accompanying musical geography, the band builds worlds that feel consistent and lived in. 2009’s Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair used the verbose language of folklore and old poets to craft the mountaintops and canyons of adolescent love; 2011’s Wildlife examined the various layers—both physical and experiential— that make up a neighborhood; 2014’s Rooms of the House revealed the emotional hardcore aspects of a hunting cabin, crafting a distinctly midwestern shift between cozy and cold through domestic snapshots of a relationship and its collapse.
In a live setting the band recreates these worlds with exact and lean performances to devout fans, returning the narratives to a sense of human connection that inspired them in the first place. The band is precise in their execution, sometimes requiring the instrumentalists to physically lean in towards each other to not lose the more dynamically challenging moments of songs. The audience’s role does not require such precision and fans are invited to bring their whole selves to shows and join in a community that in turn keeps the band focused on the role of their art. This interaction— the collective dependence of artist and audience— is the crux of a La Dispute show.
The worlds created on albums like Wildlife and Rooms of the House feel like the one we occupy as they draw emotional weight and meaning from the familiar and ordinary. Panorama builds a different kind of world. Instead of exploring the tangible, Panorama’s setting is the more nebulous and subjective landscapes of grief, anxiety and devotion.
Conceived during a drive frequently taken by lyricist Jordan Dreyer and his partner, the words on Panorama are intensely personal. The album, in part, is about the distance between two people and commitment in spite of it. It draws directly from Dreyer’s own experience but is painted vaguely enough that listeners likely find themselves in various points in the space between the album’s two characters. The music places more emphasis on texture and tone than the expository builds and breaks of past albums, giving a foundational breadth to the obscure terrain of the album’s ten songs. Dreyer’s words are only one path through the broad expanse of Panorama.
To recreate these elements live, La Dispute is bringing touring musicians with them for the first time in the band’s history. With an extra guitar and auxiliary percussion added to their standard setup, La Dispute is further equipped to build the wide and complex world of Panorama.
In line with the tradition La Dispute has established over the last decade, the shows in support of Panorama will seek to embody the vision of the album while granting listeners the opportunity to participate and fill in the spaces the album builds but leaves unexplained.
Purchase your tickets for the Panorama tour here!
