Impending Joy at Snug Harbor

I can’t remember exactly how I heard of Impending Joy, but it wasn’t very long ago, and I was hooked immediately. A surf/psych-rock band that gets surprisingly heavy at times. Hailing from Asheville, NC, they currently have one single titled Dry Pond (unless you count the demos on Bandcamp) and I can’t stop listening to it.

I purposely haven’t listened to the demos because I’m eagerly awaiting the full album release. I’m told the second single should be about in a couple of weeks with the album following in a month or so. Here’s their Bandcamp if you’d like to check them out.

The live show blew me away. As I mentioned before, they get surprisingly heavy. It was a little difficult to photograph because I only knew one song, but I had a great time.

The opener, Top Achiever was fun. A lo-fi electronic, reverberated vocal, kinda dream-pop solo act. He seemed a bit nervous at first, but I think he performed well enough.

We didn’t stick around for the headliner, Nolan Potter’s Nightmare band. I’ve never regretted skipping a show more in my life. The album Nightmare Forever is phenomenal. It’s poppy, it’s progressive, it’s pyschedelic. Honestly have no idea how I’ve never heard it until now. Here’s the Bandcamp page if you’d like to listen. My co-workers in Austin are going to ream me for missing this one. 😅

While waiting for bands to start before and between sets I made a Spotify playlist of all the music the venue played over the PA. It’s all funk and soul. Going to try and start doing this at every show if I can.

Here are a few more photos from the show.