Though the highlights of the night were inevitably reserved for hometown headliners Pup, for a brief blip on Echo Beach, Toronto belonged to five-dudes known as Twin Peaks. Ripping through an eight song set to a respectable but patchy crowd. The lack of audience crossover between the pop-punkers and garage-rockers was notable and surprising. Sure, we’re talking about two entirely different genres here, but as group entities, both occupy a similarly rock-centric indie-space. The lack of early-birds at the venue gets even more puzzling when one considers that the Chicago based group likely has a slightly larger worldwide following than their counter-parts. In any event (or lack thereof), the seasoned millennial veterans soldiered on, using the gig to springboard songs from their upcoming record Lookout Low into sonic existence.

For a group that could simply turn the amps up to eleven and deliver the more bombastic bangers from their back-catalog in a haze of messy distortion, the mix and performance here was pleasantly intricate and un-muddled. Distinguishing between the altering licks of co-lead guitarists Cadian Lake James and Clay Frankel was both simple and pleasurable, while keyboardist Colin Croom added a sort of Steely-Dan style smoothness from the side-stage.

Twin Peaks are anything but a glorified bar band. New tracks, such as “Oh Mama,” played out like a professional jam session in public. In keeping with new tunes, the night also saw the live debut of “Dance Through It”, the lead single from band’s aforementioned upcoming record. Appropriately groovy and tuneful, the track displays the band’s fullest and most mature sound yet, making for not only a winning single, but a winningly dance-able live anthem. Closing out the set-list was fan-favourite “Strawberry Smoothie”, a fruitful showcase for Jack Dolan’s deep, domineering bass lines and Connor Brodner’s hard-hitting palpitations which pulsated from behind the kit.

While tracks like “Smoothie” and “Wanted You” peppered the show with the odd “hit”, the set-list was such that the passive, middle-of-the-road fan very well could have been at a bit of a loss. The performance was energetically accessible enough to win over newcomers, and featured enough deep cuts extracted from a recent single compilation, titled Sweet 17’ Singles, to satisfy fans of the hardcore persuasion. But those stuck somewhere in between, looking for a “Butterfly” or “Making Breakfast” may have been lost in a self-inflicted personal purgatory. Despite this, for most in attendance, the sandy beach, scarlet sky, and some laid back Rock n’ Roll made for one chill hangout.

Images courtesy of the artist

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NE-HI recently released their second album, Offers, via Grand Jury records (which also happens to be the home of a couple more of my favorite windy city boys, Twin Peaks). This is the first release for NE-HI under a prominent indie label.

For the new album, the group worked with well-known Chicago producer Dave Vettraino, who also helped produce their first project. Vettraino previously worked with fellow garage rockers Cafe Racer. The garage scene in Chicago is a wonderful little community that supports one another. That’s where Twin Peaks started, and I’m sure we’ll only see more come out of it (cough, cough, Post Animal).

NE-Hi took more than two years after the release of their first effort to craft Offers. Most fans know that the first album materialized almost as a fluke. The young men initially came together to write the score for a friend’s film, but the film never ended up coming out. Instead, they formed a band.

The biggest difference with Offers is they had time to reflect and decide who they wanted to be as a band and what they wanted to say. I was able to sit down with guitarist Jason Balla and learned that most of the writing came about organically, amongst some stumbles and a little overanalyzing.

They were frustrated at first over the recordings and decided to just relax and have some friends over. Through the magic of what I can only image was “Olde Style” and jamming, the album’s title track was born. During the jam session, Colin Croom (of Twin Peaks) chimed in with a broken Farfisa. No word on whether he played on the record—but I love how this music scene is so intertwined with one another, like a brotherhood.

Offers itself is definitely a coming-of-age album for NE-HI. Balla said he wanted the record to be “something of an act of solidarity with people who are trying to figure it all out. There was a lot of pressure and exhaustion and self-discovery in the process of writing and recording. We were trying to find our voice and we’re proud of the one we found.”

I think listeners will definitely hear this in the lyrics of tracks like “Stay Young”, “Offers”, and “Out of Reach”. I personally think “Everybody Warned You” is about an ex—at least, it makes me think of mine. While NE-Hi is trying something new lyrically, they stay true to their rattling, jangling guitars. Their psycho surf influence is still prevalent on tracks “Buried on the Moon” and “Every Dent”. Songs like “Prove” pep things up a bit, but we still have Mikey’s and Jason’s long, lingering vocals to draw us in.

Offers is a somewhat rare piece in the garage rock scene where the sophomore record not only delivers, but may surpass the debut effort. If you have the chance, catch these boys on their odyssey-level tour.

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