Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

Bloomington bands perform alongside Ohio four-piece Cross Country

Arts Filler

The back room of the Bishop Nightclub vibrated with guitar feedback and synth chords. The local bar and music venue was the host of its first live show of the calendar season.

Singer, guitar player and IU junior Brett Hoffman was standing center stage and performing the delicate dream pop of Brownies in Cinema.

The Bishop featured a lineup of local and regional artists for its first show of the new calendar season this Sunday.

The Bloomington-based independent record label Winspear presented the show, which featured the headlining local ensemble Brownies in Cinema.

Hoffman’s brainchild from high school, Brownies in Cinema has been playing lo-fi dream pop at local and regional shows since 2012.

Hoffman’s first physical release, “Bret’s Tape,” was released on Circuit Public Broadcasting early last year and was followed by a performance at WIUX’s yearly music festival, Culture Shock.

What started out as a solo project featuring Hoffman recording and writing all the music turned into a six-piece full band playing classically synthed-out, delicate pop songs.

Supporting Brownies in Cinema were local artist High Fiber and the Ohio four-piece Cross Country.

The band’s particular guitar style, heavy feedback and deadpan vocal delivery created the same Americana punk feel as Parquet Courts and Ty Segall during songs like “Grass Stain.”

Audience member and IU junior Andy De Varona is an active member of the local music scene and came out to support his fellow musicians at the show.

“Overall I thought the show ran smoothly and sounded great,” De Varona said. “I love the Bishop as a venue.”

The Bloomington natives of High Fiber also made an appearance on Sunday night’s bill. Featuring Tommy Muldowney, Cesar Escamilla, Andy Laszlo, Alex Rigsbee and Ben Archer, the band described its sound as “psych pop lo-fi disembodied dead sexplosion.”

Its first release, “Corner In, Corner Out,” became available for streaming on Soundcloud two months ago, and since then the band has been playing shows around town to promote the album.

Comprising Ezra Saulnier, Thom Meyer, Emily Mccolgan and John Clooney, Cross Country released its debut LP “Trials” in September of last year through a cassette-tape subscription service called the Infinity Cat Cassette Series. The band’s show in Bloomington marked the last stop on the tour promoting its debut album.

“Bloomington seems like one of better cities for music within a few hours drive of us; we always like the bands we play with in Bloomington,” Saulnier said. “As far as last night goes, I thought that the show was really positive, and I had been excited to finally see Brownies in Cinema.”

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe