It was a Wednesday night in Cambridge, and a bit of Chicago suddenly took over the Sinclair. Led by garage rock band Twin Peaks and with support from Jimmy Whispers and NE-HI, the night brought a unique mix of avant-garde bedroom pop and garage rock.
Jimmy Whispers kicked things off with lo-fi home recordings, singing love songs over pre-recorded back-up synths. Initially it appeared Whispers was a standup comedian, armed on stage with only a microphone and no instruments. He launched into his self-proclaimed “sing-a-ling-a-ding-dong” and encouraged the audience to repeat the simple mantra-like lyrics about strippers and never being kissed. The young audience was delighted with Jimmy Whispers’ absurdity and apparent abandon for the technical support staff at the Sinclair who chased him and the long microphone chord after every stage dive.
Next up were NE-HI, which played their much buzzed about punk. On Wednesday the band had released their first single via Twin Peaks label, Grand Jury, and announced they are now officially signed to the label, which is also home to Day Wave, Hippo Campus, and Carl Barat. Fitting in with those acts, NE-HI set the tone for the rest of the night as the first few brave souls began to mosh and even crowd surf to the dismay of an already pissed-off Sinclair staff. Their music was a much more fitting opener to Twin Peaks.
The headliner began their set with commentary on their rise through the Boston rock club ranks.
“It’s great not to be at Great Scott,” Twin Peaks’ Cadien Lake James told the hyped up audience, referencing their show last year at the much smaller Allston music venue. Although the show last night at the Sinclair was not sold out, the jump from Great Scott to the Sinclair was necessary to accommodate for their swelling fan-base. The band has made a name for themselves as hard partying feel-good punks, and they delivered; appearing to be enjoying themselves as much as the audience, head-banging to their own bass lines. They captured the spirit of a basement show in a venue, and to see them is to feel young again.
As a result of the basement show vibe, the Sinclair had its hands full with the rowdy young crowd of kids who didn’t want to follow their rules on stage or in the audience. At one point there was a visible surge to the front of the stage, and it made even the most modest fan want to lunge for the front.
The last time Twin Peaks played the Sinclair was in 2013, while opening for Born Ruffians. The band has come a long way since that show, expanding their sound to include a keyboardist featured on their latest album Down In Heaven. As they finished their last song, the singer sat down next to a stage prop, a television screen that simply read “TP”. Exhausted he lifted his guitar above his head and tossed it next to him before slinking off stage. Adoring fans cheered until the band returned for their encore of three more tracks including their single, “I Found A New Way”, off last year’s critically acclaimed release Wild Onion.
If Twin Peaks return to Boston, they are not to be missed, most likely selling out The Sinclair next time and certainly bringing the ruckus.
Follow Jennifer Usovicz on Twitter @jausovicz