Photos by Jonathon Bernstein
Cult Fever’s singer, Tamara Jafar, uses space and breakdowns to showcase her vocals. Echo pedals boosted Jafar’s vocals over pulsating synths and power strummed guitars, as she anxiously paced the stage. The group utilized gang vocals, harmonic keyboard flourishes, and distorted guitar to achieve a large sound.
Cold Fronts, hailing from Philadelphia, performed songs about girls, drinking and camaraderie. This group un-embarrassingly pulls influences from feel-good-pop-punk of the early 2000′s, making it cool and modern. Frontman Craig Almquist, is a classic teen heartthrob, bopped around energetically, cheering from behind long surfer hair and a backwards hat. The charisma between Almquist and drummer Al Smith gave their performance vivacity, and their fast-paced pop songs made their set almost feel too short.
Only thirty seconds into their first song, Incan Abraham transformed the room into a pastel dream-pop playland. Loop stations, echo pedals, and cotton candy reverb bounced off the broken bottle backdrop of Baby’s All Right. The crowd was instantly infected with a need to dance in harmony to the enraptured pop melodies of lead singer Giuliano Pizzulo. Pizzulo’s vocals were bathed in such thick reverb that all lyrics and harmonies blended into an intoxicatingly mushy, melodic cocktail. Tremolo picking and soaring synth lines competed with the group’s modest yet ambitious drummer, sneaking in fills at unexpected places. Their performance was a well choreographed set, each song swelling and breathing to tell a narrative of their work.
Neighbors, fronted by Noah Stitelman, is a likable synth pop band. With 6 people on stage, the massive size of their sound isn’t unexpected. Neighbors fills every inch if the room with arpeggiated synths, backing vocals, overdriven bass, backing tracks and an extremely effected guitar. Even with the terrible winter cold, Stitelman gave a strong performance, his sick voice hidden behind reverb. Their sound can be characterized by its neo-new-wave bass lines, single note synth melodies and secondary percussion.