Track #3 (of 5): MEGA-SCOPES @Swan Dive, Arts District
The Band Who Fell To Earth. (Image by Fred Morledge)
It’s 9:30 on a Saturday night on Main St in the Arts District, and there’s a line in front of the new incarnation of Swan Dive. The ticket price is $15, everyone’s here to see MEGA-SCOPES (the caps are theirs), and the place is packed. This is a vote of confidence, I immediately thought, for the local music scene here.
MEGA-SCOPES are an accomplished mostly instrumental trio (synth-bass-drum) with a big muscular sound, merging jam band vibes with soundscapes encompassing electronic, rock, funk, prog, and touches of jazz. They incorporate electronically treated vocals and mysterious spoken word audio recordings, performing alongside film projections.
MEGA-SCOPES “set the controls for the heart of the sun,” to borrow the title of an old Pink Floyd song. (Image by Fred Morledge)
Each member is masked and wears a jumpsuit onstage. Their bio says, “Most believe they were created in Area 51 by a secret government program in collaboration with entities from another world.” If you look them up on Spotify, you’ll see an EP from 2023 and various singles including this year’s intriguingly titled “Divide & Bloom.”
There’s a window for MEGA-SCOPES to break out on the festival circuit where audiences are open-minded. During their two hour-plus performance, I wrote down the names of some bands with whom they share some stylistic similarities, like STS9 and LCD Soundsystem. Notably, the audience was with them the whole way, and the sound at Swan Dive was truly stellar.
