Having heard about a show featuring The Glow, a band whose current lineup featured musicians from other groups I admire; Teen Body, whom I had wanted to hear live; and Sean Henry, a band releasing a record on one of my favorite labels, I knew this was not one to miss. I was further intrigued that the show was hosted by a meme account I follow and had a half-hour open tequila bar, an atypical atmosphere for concerts like this.
Getting off at the Marcy Avenue M stop, I walked the short distance in the blustery cold past Peter Luger to Williamsburg’s Baby’s All Right to see the record release for Sean Henry’s A Jump From The High Dive. Getting to the venue around 7, I settled in.
The evening’s performance was hosted by popular DIY band Instagram meme account @juulsexual, who typically matches witty observations of the scene with a backdrop of photos from Reddit’s r/cursedimages. She also engaged in some top-tier prop comedy, pretending to announce the winner of the night’s raffle by unraveling a scroll which supposedly held the name of the winner, only to be then read from a phone and handing Sean a single “whammy” right before his performance.
The performances kicked off with The Glow, and the glow of the multi-colored Baby’s lights provided an appropriate backdrop. The current iteration of the band features veterans of the scene. Singer-guitarist-pianist Mike Caridi, who co-runs Bushwick-based indie record label Double Double Whammy, which released the Sean Henry record, was previously in many projects I saw back in the day, including Topshelf Records’ Sirs and Sub Pop’s LVL UP. The band also features Greg Rutkin (Cende and LVL UP) on guitar, Madeline Babuka Black (Yucky Duster) on drums, Nicola Leel (Doe) on bass, and Kate Meizner (Hellrazor and previous touring bassist for Snail Mail) on guitar.
Tonight, the instrumentation was different than on the record; Mike usually plays piano for half the set, but due to a missing keyboard power cord, he resorted to adapting the parts on the fly on guitar with aplomb. A standout track of the set was “Orchard,” (also from the last LVL UP record) which crescendos to a driving chorus with a fuzzy distorted guitar lead.
This was my first experience with Teen Body live, the second set of the night, and they didn’t disappoint. I was brought seaside by their sound, placed somewhere between Beach House and Beach Fossils, with great driving energy full of ethereal, lush reverb and delay. The band rocked through the show, and an atmospheric synth provided a canvas upon which trading and layering melodic guitar lines and vocals painted a wonderful sonic image.
The final performance of the evening was Sean Henry, the nome d’art of Sean Posila, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard. At this point, the venue felt very full and there was a palpable energy in the air. The band played their brand of indie music to an enthused crowd. Sean Henry played the first track from the new record, “Can U”, to start off the set. The track starts with a keyboard line played over the full band before Sean sings about the banality of city life, having moved from New York City to Connecticut, where he’s from, a year ago. The song effortlessly goes between pop-rock to a funky wah-wah guitar lick on the chorus with Sean letting out a jaded “yeah.” The second track of their set and my favorite, “Rain, Rain,” also from the new record, starts with catchy vocals that bring to mind an early Thom Yorke crooning before Radiohead made its alt-rock turn.
A Jump From The High Dive is available now through Double Double Whammy and major streaming services.
