In his Stereogum review of Home Is Where‘s fantastic new album The Whaler, Ian Cohen referred to the band’s previous album I Became Birds as the first emo album since The Hotelier’s Home, Like Noplace Is There “to feel truly visionary,” calling singer/songwriter Brandon MacDonald a “charismatic, confrontational voice who risked immediate backlash, challenging the genre to reconsider its default viewpoints.” When Home Is Where brought their headlining The Whaler tour to Brooklyn’s Elsewhere Zone One on Saturday night (7/8), Conor Murphy of opening band Smidley (who also fronts Foxing, and who knows a thing or two about charismatic, confrontational emo) called The Whaler the best album of the year (and of the last ten years, and of all time) and told the crowd that he liked Home Is Where’s music after hearing their recordings, but was even more blown away by them after seeing them live when they opened Foxing’s tour last year, and even more blown away after seeing them play their first headlining show for The Whaler in Somerville, MA one night prior. He suggested to the crowd that we did not know what we were in for. Statements like Conor’s and Ian’s might seem like hyperbole, but watching Home Is Where play songs from The Whaler at their first sold-out headlining show, they somehow felt like understatements.
Home Is Where already seem ready for bigger stages, so it feels like a treat that everyone in attendance on Saturday got to have an up, close, and personal experience with the band at what will probably be the smallest NYC venue they play for a while. From the second they kicked into opener “Chris Farley,” Home Is Where were exploding with energy. Brandon is a commanding, powerful, and unpredictable frontperson, and she’s matched in intensity by guitarist and co-songwriter Tilley Komorny, who moves from tappy emo riffs to scorching punk chords to strummy folk rock without ever toning down the raw power she brings to the stage. The rhythm section of Connor O’Brien (bass) and Josiah Gardella (drums) is airtight and thunderous. Their music seamlessly varies between emo and screamo and Neutral Milk Hotel-esque singing saw and Bob Dylan-esque harmonica, and Home Is Where fuck with all of these familiar formulas to the point where everything they’re doing feels new and original. Emo is a genre that’s often fueled by nostalgia, but Home Is Where sound entirely like the future.
Some of Home Is Where’s songs deal explicitly with Brandon and Tilley’s experiences as trans women, and the frequently-sarcastic Brandon gave loving shoutouts to the trans community for coming out to support, while Tilley took a moment to talk about the war on trans youth going on in the band’s home state of Florida, and gave a list of organizations that people can donate to. (Brandon and Tilley have both since relocated to New York, and Brandon mentioned on stage that she spent last year working the coat check at Elsewhere.) Representation really does matter, and the show felt like a much more inclusive, diverse space than the straight, cis, male-dominated environments that frequently populated previous generations of emo. You could tell that this relatively new band already means so much to so many people, and the crowd was just as energetic as the band, screaming along and push-pitting and stage-diving all night. I think everyone in attendance would agree that it really felt like we were witnessing something special.
Home Is Where played more than half of The Whaler and a few favorites from I Became Birds, and they also played two entirely new songs: a twinkly emo song called “Artificial Grass” and a country-esque song called “Migration Patterns.” Carmen Castillo of local openers Pop Music Fever Dream came out to sing with Brandon on “Yes! Yes! A Thousand Times Yes!” and Madison James of New Brunswick, NJ emo band Ogbert the Nerd was in the crowd and hopped on stage to sing (and skank) with Brandon during “Assisted Harakiri.” Their 45-minute set flew by without a single lull and I don’t think I’m alone in wishing they played even longer. It was one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen in a long time, and if you haven’t seen this band yet, I can’t stress enough that you should change that immediately.
I unfortunately missed PMFD’s set but Smidley was also awesome. Conor had a four-piece band (including Foxing bassist Brett Torrence) and played highlights from both Smidley albums and a cover of Donna Lewis’ ’90s pop classic “I Love You Always Forever.” It’s a treat to see him do something more stripped-down than Foxing, but even in this more intimate environment, his voice is still larger than life. He’ll be back in NYC when Foxing and The Hotelier bring their The Albatross / Home, Like Noplace Is There 10th anniversary tour to MHOW and Racket this November.
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Home Is Where @ Elsewhere Zone One – 7/8/23 Setlist
chris farley
the scientific classification of stingrays
yes! yes! a thousand times yes! (with Carmen Castillo of Pop Music Fever Dream)
floral organs
assisted harakiri (with Madison James of Ogbert the Nerd)
nursing home riot
artifical grass (New song)
everyday feels like 9/11
Migration Patterns (New song)
skin meadow
Encore:
long distance conjoined twins