i see stars shining bright

went to see stars of the lid tuesday. the show organizer had decided to set the show in a massonic temple. well thought. this was a show unlike anything i had seen, but it reminded me of this one time in college where we had an electroacoustics 101 class. we sat in this huge amphitheatre and were asked to close our eyes and listen to every sound around us. they had speakers in all corners of the room and the teacher would swivel sounds from one direction to another. it was pretty cool.
the opening band were these two girls who could barely be seen, the lights were dimmed so low. but they had incredible voices. they both played keyboards, very low and ambient keys. everyone was quiet and the keys resounded through the room. it gave me goosebumps. they could have sacrificed a sheep for all i know and it wouldn't have been out of place. (not that i'm for the sacrifice of sheep, no sir). anyway, think of it as like au revoir simone, but slower, and the voices reaching incredible heights. it felt a bit religious, like the lady who sings behind the priest at funerals.
next was a really talented fellow by the name of christopher willits. he's alone on stage with laptop in front of him, electric guitar in hand, and plugged-in headphones. he sets his tunes to an electro beat, none too annoying or loud, and then he grooves to it and plays oh-so-subtly one key at a time on his guitar. keys that he stretches for ten seconds or so. i sat a bit far from the stage and honestly, at first there, i couldn't even tell he was playing guitar. all i saw was this dude groving. but then i looked closer and could see was he was doing. it was brilliant, this guy knows how to create sound and play with it.
ironically enough, and i hope i'm not mistaken about this, but i'm pretty sure willits turned out to be stars of the lid's sound guy. i was right beside him as he grooved to their set. it was cool to have him there because he made me realize that there is so much more to one key than one usually perceives.
stars have three ladies on strings and two guys on guitars/keyboards. there were countless moments where the strings would play a key together and stop for a sec and then play another. in those moments of pause, the sound guy would hear it resonate in his ears and shook his head along with it. it was wild. it made me appreciate the show a lot more, i think. to witness someone so enraveled in the smallest and most subtle of sounds.
i don't know what you think of ambient music, but it's a very spiritual experience for me.

stat!