By Alejandro Serrano, deputy news editor
Laced in with lightly distorted guitar chords, bass lines played in an echoed round with synthesizers at afterHOURS last Thursday night.
âYou can loosen up,â Aaron Maine, lead singer of Porches, said to a full audience as the band began their opening number âGlow.â âItâs a bit cold (outside) but it is warm in here.â
Green Line Records, a nonprofit, student-run record label, organized the concert on Feb. 11, presenting Porches with New York punk glo-fi band eskimeaux and Green Lineâs own Boston artist Victoria Rose performing under stage name Brittle Brian.
âPorches are sick; Iâve been trying to book them for a while,â Carly Goldberg, senior communications major and event coordinator, said. âThey are a different type of genre than Green Line has been doing lately, being that they are electric pop-like. Iâm not only excited to see them but also that I booked them.â
The show was one of Porchesâ first since the release of the bandâs newest album âPoolâ on Feb. 5. Their set list consisted of new material off âPoolâ as well as older songs like the intimate âHeadsgiving,â off the bandâs 2013 album âSlow Dance in the Cosmos.â
âI thought it was a really good turnout even from non-Northeastern students, which means word got out,â said junior Northeastern health science major Allie Hlaing. âI love Pool. I like that it is sad music that I can dance to.â
After âHeadsgiving,â Maine changed the tuning of his guitar and said âOk, letâs doâŚ,â finishing the sentence in a whisper to the band. âWeâll do that one and thenâŚ,â he said before another whisper that made the audience laugh. The band launched into the buzzing bass of the synth-driven âSkinny Trees.â
Soon after, the band took a detour from the original 11-song set list and played âFranklin the Flirt,â with drums more prevalent than in the studio recording but with the same sincerity from Maine. Porches closed the evening by asking the audience if they wanted to hear âAfter Glowâ or âShaver,â and after some feedback, the band ended on the former.
âThe show was great, and the sound was awesome. This was my first time at Northeastern afterHOURS…it was really nice,â said Gabrielle Smith, lead singer of eskimeaux and the singer-songwriter behind the moniker. âPorches is my favorite band.â
eskimeaux gave a sample of their music catalog with a 10-song set about 45 minutes before Porches took the stage. The band opened with melodious âThanksâ off their 2015 release âO.K.â
They closed their set in a similar tone with âI Admit Iâm Scared.â Smith began singing âI admit Iâm scared of a warm side of our bedâ and playing guitar while the rest of the band trickled in as the song grew.
The instrumentals faded out as Smith sang the last words and let the last few guitar chords ring out.
âI just found out about Porches and I love eskimeaux,â junior Northeastern pharmacy program student Cassidy Duncan said. âWe seem to get bands at afterHOURS right before they are famous. Pitchfork named âPoolâ best new music…the lyrics to this music are very somber, but the music is danceable.â
Green Lineâs Brittle Brian was first on the bill for the night. According to Goldberg, Green Line Records is trying to incorporate their own artists in shows that they present.
Brittle Brian played four âand a halfâ songs. The âhalf songâ was one she said she wanted to try out with crowd interaction, asking the audience to sing âahââs with her. Brittle Brian ended her performance with âLizard Eyes,â adapted to her solo performance with guitar from the lo-fi synth-organ song.
âI think what [Green Line Records] is doing â bringing local artists to play with bigger acts â is very cool⌠making other people and my own dreams come true with sick lineups,â Goldberg said.
Photo by Suma Hussein