Article and Photos by: Ommar Ortuvia
Houston, TX — Tuesday was a historical day in Houston due to a rare snowstorm that passed during the prior night and for most of the morning. This blanketed the city in an unusual whiteness that prompted the city to shut down almost completely, with kids and adults alike exploding onto the streets for impromptu sledding, snowball fights, and snowmen galore. Wednesday morning woke up to sub-freezing temperatures once more, with roads dangerously icing and threatening another day of being homebound. This unfortunately put a dent in the plans of many people in the area that planned to head downtown to check out the Belarusian post-punk/new wave trio Molchat Doma at the House of Blues. Online, many fans expressed sadness that they could not travel into town due to the road conditions, but the ones who braved the weather (and their safety) were treated to a night of emotional & dark tunes that only growing up in a bleak post-Soviet country permits.
The band originated from the capital city of Minsk and known for their dark, broody synth tunes, electronic beats, and droning lyrics, reminiscent of early 80s bands like Joy Division, Kino, The Cure, and Depeche Mode. To the person who is a fan of post-punk, new wave, or synth-pop, it is easy to listen to Molchat Doma, despite all the songs sung in Russian. For the commoner, they might have become fans after their song “Судно (Sudno)” graced many unrelated TikTok videos of kids dancing, as well as being the background music in many “Escape from Tarkov” gameplay videos. Within the crowd, one could appreciate the many styles they appeal to, from the young goth kids outfitted only in black, to the Russian-speaking euro-styled adults, to the gray-haired metalheads.
Opening the night was LA-based group Sextile, which laid the groundwork with their take on post-punk, adding a punky edge to it at times. Once they completed their set, Molchat Doma took to the stage with both Roman Komogortsev & Pavel Kozlov tending to their instruments (synths, bass, guitars, electronic drums) with both tweaking the filters to add an ethereal sound to the drones and pads already playing. To the trained ear, one could identify this intro as the beginning of “Колесом (Kolesom).” Once the drums and lead synth loops began, vocalist Egor Shkutko slowly strolled to the microphone in the middle of the stage and began singing in his distinctive monotone manner, exciting the crowd. Next, the band played “Ты Же Не Знаешь Кто Я (Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya)” which with its faster tempo and danceable beats infected the concertgoers into swaying and grooving, with Shkutko carrying out a mid-song dance break. Throughout the night both Komogortsev & Kozlov would alternate between different instruments within the songs and occasional instrumental breaks, while Shkutko provided the sullen harmonies with his baritone voice, and occasional expressive dance stints. The band played through a setlist that included songs mostly from 2018’s sophomore album Этажи (Etazhi) and their latest release Белая Полоса (Belaya Polosa) from 2024, finishing off with their most known tune, “Судно (Борис Рижий) (Sudno (Boris Ryzhyi)).” Once the iconic drum roll began the fans did not hold back and began dancing and yelling, knowing that now was the time to let it all out – and that they did. After the song was over the band thanked the crowd, closing things off with a “Спасибо.”
During the roughly 100-minute set the trio focused on providing the crowd a hypnotic musical experience that was accentuated by the lighting program, with minimal interaction with the crowd other than an occasional thank you between songs. The attendees definitely had a great night, and despite the language barrier were still able to sing and harmonize with the lyrics (or made up ones). Within this mid-size venue the energy was felt massively throughout the night, but with a sizeable amount of people not attending the show due to icy roadways one has to wonder how much greater it would have been if those fans had been in attendance. Either way, there is no doubt that Molchat Doma will return to the United States and Houston after receiving so much love from the local fans. They will continue their current “USA/Canada 2025” tour through the beginning of March.