Daddy Issues, Now Now and Foxing
Pyramid Scheme // Grand Rapids, MI // April 20th, 2019
Photos by Kendra Petersen Kamp // Review by Jordan Petersen Kamp
Daddy Issues
Now, Now
The co-headlining tour of Now, Now and Foxing stopped by the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 20. The tour is connected through common mindset rather than common sound, as both bands have made an aesthetic push outwards from their indie rock (Now, Now) and emo (Foxing) roots.
Now, Now was the first headliner of the night after the grunge/power-pop band Daddy Issues opened the show. Drawing primarily from 2018’s Saved— an album that served as an electronic reemergence for the formerly guitar-led band— the set was a masterful performance of subdued pop. Many of the cues common in the catchiest pop songs— quick tempos, octave-jumping choruses— are absent in Now, Now’s music. With mid-tempo songs and mid-range melodies, Now, Now create songs so unobtrusive their catchiness is hard to pin down. At the Pyramid Scheme, songs like “Yours” and “Can’t Help Myself” played something like slowed down and spaced out Carly Rae Jepsen songs, while “SGL” captured the earnestness of classic Taylor Swift with half the energy.
The Minnesota band’s less-is-more approach also extends to their composition. Most of the songs performed featured few dynamic shifts or added layers when transitioning between verse and chorus, relying instead on bare melody to distinguish the different sections of a song. The low-end is crucial to this approach— with pulsing, steady synth bass, live drums and the occasional sinking bass drone that shook the entire room, Now, Now’s songs had a strong backbone for vocalist Cacie Dalager’s hooks to wrap around.
Now, Now’s nonchalant pop hits a sweet-spot that invites listeners to get hooked into a chorus without demanding a shift in mood. It’s catchy in a way that fits into any scenario or space— built to be repeated and modest enough to allow for it. The audio and lighting issues that stopped the set a couple times hardly even feels like a footnote given the audience’s enthusiastic response to the band’s malleable and democratic music— “We’re having a bad technical time, but a good emotional time,” observed Dalager.
Foxing
After Now, Now, Roy Orbison’s “Crying” played Foxing onto the stage for the night’s second headlining set. The song is a schmaltzy, cowboy-operatic classic— the type of song that makes even the simplest heartbreak seem like a pivot point in human history. As it would turn out, this is the perfect starting point for a Foxing set.
The St. Louis band began with “Grand Paradise,” the opening track from 2018’s Nearer My God, an album that is noted for its no-idea-is-too-big approach and flawless execution. “Grand Paradise” begins with a single, continuously-picked guitar note, some synthesized hand-claps and vocalist Conor Murphy’s falsetto before opening up with a drop so carnal in its emphasis on pounding rhythm and massive guitars that it borders on nu-metal. It’s simultaneously sexy and slugging, like Prince mixed with Deftones, and it’s a hell of a way to start a set.
It looks fun to be in Foxing. The band performs as if they are seizing an opportunity they may never have again. At the Pyramid Scheme, Murphy— in all his wild hand gestures and goofy stage-swagger— looked like he was crushing a karaoke set of all of his favorite songs that just so happen to be by Foxing. Guitarist Eric Hudson ripped guitar solos as casually as he performed the jangly guitar lines from older albums like 2015’s Dealer. During the chaotic, noise-driven song “Gameshark,” he offered his guitar to the crowd for them to pass amongst themselves— he may be a guitar hero, but he’s the people’s guitar hero. Each band member occupied the fullest potential space of every song, which is probably why the band keeps building bigger songs. Every guitar run, bass line, synth pad and drum felt like they were pushing out past the very limits of the song, the stage, the building, the city, etc.
The lighting for Foxing’s set was low, with little more than a series of single-beam lights shining from behind the band and shifting in all directions. With shadowed faces, the band members were strangely elusive given the sheer might of the music. Through massive choruses and arena-ready rock, the band’s silhouette’s implied that there is more for the band to break through, even still.
Both headliners’ sets aimed at a grand vision of what live music can do. Blaming either of these bands for trying too hard would be silly; trying hard is the point. There’s something special in the way they operate, which likely comes from the bands’ years of experience performing in smaller, DIY spaces or basements. In the intimacy of a club rather than the sprawl of an arena, Now, Now more clearly shows the virtue of a pop hook just as Foxing does with a guitar solo. Together, the bands mark a more graspable, human version of ambition— this tour is a place where pop stars can have technical issues and rock stars hide in the dark.
