Into the Future with Unwound, 2/10/23

It seems like Unwound obsesses over time, often focusing on the past, present, and future. Currently advancing through their first tour since 2002, the group reunited under the tour header Unwound: 1991-2091–suggesting their eyes look towards the future. Heading down the West Coast from Seattle, next to their hometown of Olympia, Washington, the post-hardcore unit played two nights at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco.

Each night was split into two sets, a rare move from a rock-oriented band. When I caught them during the first night, the set break slowed everything down, shaping the night into a slow burn, but not without explosive bursts. Both setlists were full of peaks and lulls, a thoughtful take on the conventional “loud quiet loud” approach that many 90s indie bands employed. Individual songs also peaked and quieted, with Sara Lund’s skilled drumming providing the foundation for bursts and troughs of guitar noise and bass power. Together, the group conjured the sonic moodiness that defines them.

During the show, time flexed like a tightly stretched rubber band. Unwound was quick to get us, the audience, out of the 90s and into the present. The energy proved that they are no longer just “a 90s band,” although that is how many of us listeners refer to them with our simplified descriptions. With this concert bringing everyone to the present, it felt good to be there, in the now, with friends, coworkers, and strangers that felt as thrilled as I was to see the group in 2023. We all telepathically agreed that it was never too late for an Unwound reunion tour.

Three quarters of the way through the performance, after all this tightening, this tautening of the rubber band of time, the energy drastically changed. Vocalist and guitarist Justin Trosper, who, so far, engaged in minimal amounts of banter, admitted that he “[doesn’t] really talk much.” This pause between songs was different from previous ones. Trosper took a moment to express the band’s gratitude for the audience and to remember the group’s original bass player, Vern Rumsey, who sadly passed away in 2020. “We’re gonna play these last little bits for him, and for everybody who wants to be here and be there and be in the past and be in the future and everything gets inspired after this, for you...”

This is where it all changed. After the solemn words, new bassist Jared Warren kicked off the song “Valentine Card” with a galloping cyclical line, being joined by Lund’s shuffling drums. Following a short buildup, the guitars crashed in. Everything felt different. The rubber band of time launched. Unwound was carrying us into the future, whirling and tensing. The mosh pit, spearheaded by younger fans, surged while older fans gathered in collective head-bobs. Our favorite band had taken us from the 90s to the present and beyond. Unwound showed me that a concert space could be the site of time travel. I smiled from the edge of the mosh pit as I saw and heard time’s passage unfold in front of me. If the band’s obsession with time comes from a desire to be elsewhere, maybe, I thought to myself after the show, the future isn’t such a bad place to be.