8 PM SHOW
NATION OF LANGUAGE: Brooklyn-based synth auteurs Nation of Language entered 2020 as one of the most heralded new acts of recent memory, having only released a handful of singles but already earning high-praise from the likes of NME, FADER, Stereogum, Pitchfork, etc.. Now in 2021, they continue to turn heads having released one of the most critically acclaimed debut albums of last year ‘ Introduction, Presence’ ) and recent breakout single ‘A Different Kind of Life’. The band’s ability to blend the upbeat with a healthy dose of sardonic melancholy made it a staple on year-end ‘Best of 2020’ lists, led PASTE magazine to dub the album ‘The most exciting synth-pop debut in years’ , and landed the band major radio play from The BBC, KCRW, KEXP, SiriusXM and countless others. Inspired by the early new-wave and punk movements, the band quickly earned a reputation for delivering frenzied nights of unconventional bliss to rapt audiences, and established themselves as bright young stars emerging from a crowded NYC landscape.
Proof of vaccination or 72 hour negative Covid test will be required for entry until further notice.
Glove and Ducks Ltd. will open the show.
GLOVE:
Rod Wendt, Brie Deux and Michelle Primiani began playing music together in Tampa, FL in 2017 and shortly thereafter found their missing piece, Justin Burns, to form the modern dystopian bliss that is Glove. The stylish and magnetic 4-piece group underscores the best of the 1980’s synthetic new wave sound with a contemporary rock n’ roll edge that is sure to propel the band to the forefront of the alternative rock genre. After self-booking DIY shows for two years, the band supported indie rock darlings The Nude Party and Broncho on a string of east coast shows, honing their infectious live performances fueled by 70’s inspired dance rhythms and buzzing cosmic guitar melodies. In April of 2021, Glove released the first single from their forthcoming album Boom Nights titled “Glass”, landing their first Spotify editorial playlist on “New Noise” as well as festival slots at Lollapalooza, Shaky Knees, and Levitation. The band will hit the road with alt rock band, White Reaper, following the release of their second single “Behaviour” on July 21, 2021. “Behaviour” is a radiating track that speaks to the static reaction to operate and perform as you’re told – a chain reaction of words and expressions, a sentiment that the song’s vocalist Rod Wendt charmingly teases throughout this ear-worm. Glove will release Boom Nights in the fall of 2021 to coincide with a handful of headlining dates, doubling down on their place in contemporary music.
DUCKS LTD.
Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. (formerly Ducks Unlimited), the bright jangle-pop duo of Tom McGreevy (lead vocal, guitar, bass,
keyboards) and Evan Lewis (guitar, bass, drum programming), accomplish the impossible. The pair craft songs that
play to very specific inspirations without drowning underneath them—immediately evidenced on their critically
acclaimed EP, Get Bleak, and sharpened on Modern Fiction, their debut LP. “The Servants, The Clean, The Chills,
The Bats, Television Personalities, Felt,” Evan rattles off. “Look Blue Go Purple is one I reference a lot with our
production.” Echoes of ‘80s indiepop abound, but they never overwhelm. This is not a nostalgic record, after all, nor is
it a derivative one. Instead, across 10 cheery-sounding songs, Ducks Ltd. explore contemporary society in decline,
examining large scale human disaster through personal turmoil (hence the title, taken from a university course called
Gnosticism and Nihilism in Modern Fiction, influenced by Graham Greene novels. Bookish indie fans, look no further.)
Writing the album was intimate. Tom drafted the nucleus of a song on an unplugged electric guitar and brought it over
to Evan’s apartment, where the pair sat in his bedroom, placing percussive beats from a drum machine under
nascent melodies, passing a bass back and forth, adding organs and bridges where necessary. “It’s computer music
trying extremely hard not to sound like computer music,” Tom jokes. Fearful that limited and expensive studio time
would kneecap the project creatively, eroding their charming naivete, the pair re-recorded the album in a storage
space owned by Evan’s boss. Ornamentation through collaboration followed: there’s Aaron Goldstein on Pedal Steel
in the Go-Betweens’ “Cattle and Cane”-channeling interlude “Patience Wearing Thin,” Eliza Niemi on cello (“18
Cigarettes,” a song loosely inspired by a 1997 Oasis performance of “Don’t Go Away”), and backing harmonies from
Carpark labelmates The Beths (on an ode to friendship at a distance, “How Lonely Are You?,” “Always There,” and on
the sped-up Syd Barrett stylings of “Under The Rolling Moon.”) While in his native Australia due to covid-19, Evan
worked closely with producer James Cecil (The Goon Sax, Architecture in Helsinki) on Modern Fiction’s finishing
touches—at one point, in the mountains of the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, recorded a string quartet (featured on
“Fit to Burst,” “Always There,” “Sullen Leering Hope,” “‘Twere Ever Thus,” “Grand Final Day.”)
It’s danceable, depressive fun, with some relief: in “Always There” and “Sullen Leering Hope,” Modern Fiction’s
faithful heart. “There’s a tendency in my writing, because of my world view, to be very bleak.” Tom explains. “A quality
I don’t always see in myself and really appreciate in others is the courage to go on.” And yet, the record manages
resiliency—enough for pop fans to fall in love with.