Live Photos: Explosions in the Sky Are Still a 3-Guitar Sonic Epiphany @ Newport Music Hall

Chuck Klosterman once wrote that listening to Explosions in the Sky could make “hanging drywall…a life-altering experience,” eight years ago and few words have come close to describing the sonic wash of emotion ushered by the Texan quartet. After working on a trio of film scores/soundtracks, the group returned last April with The Wilderness, a sprawling, evocative evolution of the group’s swelling instrumentals. The songs seed from minimal beats and riffs before cascading into patterns of layered guitar tidal waves; live, that aural experience defines epic. Paste photographer Maddie McGarvey photographed the group’s sold-out performance at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio last Tuesday.

1 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

2 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

3 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

4 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

5 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

6 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

7 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

8 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

9 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey

10 of 23 Explosions in the Sky at The Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, 9/13/2016 Maddie McGarvey