Creepy Symphony: Tokyo's Goth Classical Band Anoice to Play Yugong Yishan, June 23

It's one thing for rockers to tell Beethoven to roll over, but quite another for a band to subvert and modernize his music altogether. But the Tokyo-bred four-piece Anoice have done just that, taking classical music out of orchestral halls and into rock clubs and livehouses where they bring an art rock, avant-garde quality to the time-honored genre.

Despite adding more accessible elements to classical music, each member of Anoice are proficient in in enough instruments so as to make them almost a one-man orchestra. Guitarist Takahiro Kido, for instance, also plays piano and organ in the band, along with a seemingly random array of other instruments like the glockenspiel, accordion, and Wurlitzer. Bandmate Yuki Murata also plays piano, along with synthesizer, cembalo, organ, flute, cello, harmonic pipe, and again, the glockenspiel (because every band should have two glock experts, after all). The band is rounded out by Utaka Fujiwara on viola, violin, and piano, and Tadashi Yoshikawa, who handles percussion and a turntable, because why not?

Though that may seem like a kitchen sink approach, the band show surprising restraint on many of the songs from their 2012 album The Black Rain, which many fans consider to be their masterpiece. The opening track "Self-Portrait," has a haunting violin and piano pairing that's downright Gothic enough to give you chills, whereas tracks like "Colder Than Thermite," and "Drops," are less downcast thanks to their soaring violins, which nevertheless keep hold of a melancholy tinge. Then there's "Finale," which features heavy metal guitar riffage among foreboding strings.

Thanks to these elements, it's no wonder promoter New Noise likens the group to other classically tinged of-the-moment bands like Sigur Ros and Godspeed You Black Emporer. But there's a subdued darkness to Anoice's songs that make them stand apart from even that highly niche subset. For these reasons, you're unlikely to find a more unique gig in Beijing this summer.

Anoice will perform at Yugong Yishan on June 24 at 9pm. Tickets are RMB 120 presale, RMB 150 at the door. For more information, click here.

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Photo: Ricco Label