Clan of Xymox at le Poisson Rouge

Ronny Moorings

How many rock bands from Holland can you name? Golden Earring and Focus were short-lived one-hit wonders in the late 1960s and Within Temptation, Delain and Epica have been rocking hard since the mid-1990s. Clan of Xymox, however, while not a household name, has been creating synthpop and electronic dance music for nearly 40 years.  Ronny Moorings was born in Roosendaal, Netherlands, and moved to Nijmegen in 1979, where the self-taught synthesizer player/guitarist/vocalist formed  Clan of Xymox in 1981. Moorings moved several times between Holland, England and Germany as the popularity of the band's goth-leaning dance music shifted through Europe. In the United States, however, Clan of Xymox had a brief moment on college radio stations and dance floors in the late 1980s and this helped the band retain an underground following among gothic and darkwave audiences. The band's 16th and most recent album in 2017's Days of Black.

Clan of Xymox headlined a rare local concert tonight at le Poisson Rouge and drew a full house. Electro beats powered the songs, half of which were from the 1980s and half of which were more current compositions. In the absence of a drummer, Mario Usai maintained a heavy bottom on his bass while Sean Goebel used his keyboard and Daniel Hoffmann used his sequencers to throb and pulse the rhythms. These musicians created a cinematic wash of sound as Moorings played rhythm guitar and sang in melancholic tones. If not for his vocals injecting moodiness, the overall atmospheric sound would have been chillingly hypnotic. These were the moments where Moorings' somewhat monochromatic vocal range introduced the despairing darkness of classic goth rock. Clan of Xymox's performance hearkened to an earlier musical era and yet was vibrant enough to please a contemporary following.

Setlist:

1. Intro (Stranger)
2. Stranger
3. Your Kiss
4. Jasmine and Rose
5. Louise
6. Emily
7. Hail Mary
8. Leave Me Be
9. Loneliness
10. Obsession
11. Muscoviet Musquito
12. A Day

Encore 1:

1. Cry in the Wind
2. In Love We Trust
3. Back Door

Encore 2:

1. Going Round