Brian Conlon, Staff Writer

Published: Thu Oct 06, 2011

The fall of the Iron Curtain led to many things: a reunited Germany, the end of the Cold War, democratization and economic liberalization of Eastern Europe. But the removal of this division between East and West, communism and capitalism also reopened the possibility for cultural exchange, providing the Western world with an influx of seemingly new art forms, which had previously been restricted by oppressive governments. This is not to say that Eastern European influences never touched Western music before 1989, rather that Knoxville, Tenn. would not have gotten the chance to simultaneously host three bands who incorporate that region into their sound.
    
Dark Dark Dark, a band whose name is one part self-parody, one part T.S. Eliot and another part open-ended, embraces the music from behind the former Iron Curtain.
 
“American folk is really great, but Eastern European folk is a whole other world of sexy and dramatic scales with that sort of different passion that is fun to explore,” Dark Dark Dark founder Marshall LaCount said about the band’s choice of using these styles.
    
Indeed, the band amalgamates this influence with a number of others, including New Orleans jazz and Americana. Altogether, the music forms an impressively gloomy yet exciting blend as Nona Marie Invie’s voice takes the forefront against a background of a diverse array of instruments. LaCount’s reasoning behind deciding to shelve the guitar and utilize the accordion, banjo, cello and clarinet becomes obvious upon listening. They create a far more interesting and innovative sound than the typical guitar-driven band.
    
These and other of the more uncommon instruments are also involved with the Dark Dark Dark’s touring mates. A Hawk and a Hacksaw has been creating similar although more upbeat and fast-paced songs with such instruments for almost 10 years. With accordionist Jeremy Barnes (former drummer of Neutral Milk Hotel) and violinist Heather Trost, the two founding members perform raucous and often unexpectedly diverse Balkan-inspired sets to their audiences.
    
One member of such a crowd was junior in journalism and electronic media Thomas McNair.
    
“I went to see Wilco, who are about as American as a band can get,” McNair said. “When A Hawk and a Hacksaw opened for them, I was completely shocked. Pleased, but shocked.”
    
Although A Hawk and a Hacksaw is on one side of the energy spectrum and Pillars and Tongues is on the other, both bands join Dark Dark Dark in completing this well-devised lineup. Pillars and Tongues, though not particularly as strong in Eastern European influence as the others, finds its connection through Mark Trecka’s deep crooning voice, which is often played against a minimalist and well-orchestrated drone of gothic trance. Indeed, the Chicago band’s music is perhaps darker than, yet just as beautiful as, that of Dark Dark Dark.
   
 A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Dark Dark Dark and Pillars and Tongues will perform at the Pilot Light in Knoxville’s Old City on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 10 p.m. Admission is 18+ and $10.