On August 31st, 2013, Aesthetic Perfection’s Daniel Graves did something never imagined possible: He played an entirely acoustic concert as Aesthetic Perfection. It certainly seems pretty far-fetched: as purveyors of sleek, mechanised noise and masters of technoindustrial rock, it’s hard to really imagine how AP’s material would work in an acoustic context, and that’s before you even begin to consider why.
But for all that, it proves that Graves’ performance to a raucous and appreciative audience and captured here on ‘Imperfect’ is neither as perverse or as pointless as you may think. Rather than simply playing the songs, he’s completely reinterpreted them for the medium.
Graves opens with ‘The Great Depression’ from second album ‘A Violent Emotion’ played on piano. In place of the snarling processed vocals, we hear Graves sounding jaunty, and the lyrics aren’t only audible but in the foreground. The abrasion and anger is substituted for swing, and it seems that Graves is quite the entertainer. ‘Tomorrow’ displays real emotional depth, and across the album, the deep brooding is contrasted by the unexpectedly breezy, something that’s nowhere more apparent than on ‘Hit the Streets’.
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It’s a career-spanning set, with just two songs lifted from last year’s ‘’Til Death’ (‘Antibody’ and ‘Big Bad Wolf’).
What’s interesting about this recording is that there’s a fair amount of audience noise, which means it feels a lot more live and a lot less sterile than so many live releases, and it’s all the better for it.
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