The Cat in the Cream hosted the Survivalists, Oberlin’s newest experimental musical act, on Saturday evening. Marked by expressions of improvisation and mature musicianship, the Survivalists and their original musical musings are well equipped for exploration.

Junior Julian Chin sat stage right, equipped with an accordion, a Fender Stratocaster guitar and a microphone for occasional vocals. Sophomore Teddy Rankin-Parker took the center with his cello and effects pedals. Junior Alex Christie sat to the left surrounded by a laptop, a small keyboard, an M-Box and an M-Audio effects pad, through which he ran the cello, accordion and guitar.

The Cat was impressively filled, but not many knew what to expect. After a short opening set by singer/songwriter Lionel O., the audience was mulling about when the trio began their set unexpectedly. Cellist Rankin-Parker layered a bass line over the programmed drum pattern supplied by Christie. Chin sung scratchy lyrics while huffing out chords through his accordion.

Electronic swirls and swishes came in and out as Christie turned knobs on his board, altering incoming sounds from the other two performers. Christie’s addition of improvisatory electronic effects supplied a certain quality that helped the Survivalists develop their interesting atmosphere.

Chin picked up his Stratocaster for the second tune of their set. Christie doubled Chin’s heavy and distorted chords on the keyboard while Rankin-Parker filled in the spaces with flowing lines.

“It’s always been my goal to make interesting pop music,” Chin said, regarding his role in the group. “This is moving towards the interesting. I feel like we’re just beginning to explore the possibilities of the group, and hopefully we’ll be able to spend some time together and explore.”

Popular music gravitates towards sitting and grooving on one or two chords, which in turn, cuts down harmonic intricacy. Pioneered by James Brown in American popular music, this idea is found around the world in various folk traditions and relates directly to dance. One aspect that makes the Survivalists’ music interesting is the combination of their musical personalities to explore new possibilities of how to make one groove over one chord feel satisfying and sound interesting.

“It is definitely a group that is influenced by a lot of so-called ‘experimental pop’ music that abides by more traditional songwriting structure,” said Rankin-Parker. “There is usually a consistent thread of melodic undertow to our music, yet above the melody we are constantly trying to stretch our sounds and push the imagination.”

Chin added, “It’s great working with Alex and Ted because the songs I bring in to them always end up sounding completely different than when I had them in my head. Everybody seems to put themselves into the songs. We’re all coming from different places so that’s helping to push it into areas that I might not have been comfortable going if it was just me.”

One highlight of the evening was Rankin-Parker’s solo piece. Using his electronic repeater, he looped weaving cello lines that swelled with a natural feel. Bowing over them, he soloed and took the audience on an orbital ride of graceful proportions. Christie took some of those sounds, processed them and gave strength to the tune that was already flowing with expression.

In general, the trio’s atmosphere of sound was exceptional. The accordion-cello-synthesizer combination was unique and odd, but it worked in a very pleasing manner.

“I feel like Oberlin is a great breeding ground for music like this,” said Rankin-Parker.