How rare is it for the same group of musicians to create not one but two beloved bands of the punk scene? Around the turn of the millennium, pg. 99 pushed heavy music to its most chaotic extremes, inspiring tattoos and the next generation of hardcore. Then a few members of pg. 99 started Pygmy Lush — something quieter and sweeter, though no less experimental.
Pygmy Lush never broke up, life just happened; this Tiny Desk is the atmospheric folk band’s first live performance in seven years. While its catalog can get noisy, Pygmy Lush here relies on haunted campfire singalongs from 2008’s Mount Hope (“Asphalt,” “Dead Don’t Pass” and “Hard to Swallow”) and “It’s a Good Day to Hide” from its split LP with the hardcore band Turboslut. Like those records, the foundations here are simple — acoustic guitars, looped melodies, repeated phrases, hushed vocals — but its gentle swells allow small feelings to grow roots and wander.
Blood and chosen family surrounds this set. Chris and Mike Taylor’s mother came to see Pygmy Lush perform for the very first time — the way they lit up when she entered the NPR Music office is too precious for words. Johnny Ward’s mother sat beside her. Mike Widman’s eldest daughter sings on “Hard to Swallow.” And, because Pygmy Lush has always featured an orbit of collaborators, Aimée Argote from the shapeshifting indie-rock band Des Ark plays piano and sings — their touch is so delicate, yet gives the monochromatic mood so much color.
Pygmy Lush closes this Tiny Desk with “I’ll Wait with You,” a personal request of mine. In years previous, I’ve seen the band howl its catharsis with deafening volume: “To the end,” a declaration of friendship forged in and through hardship. An unbreakable bond. Here, the scream becomes a smile, a promise.
SET LIST
- “Asphalt”
- “It’s a Good Day to Hide”
- “Dead Don't Pass”
- “Hard to Swallow”
- “I'll Wait with You”
MUSICIANS
- Chris Taylor: vocals, guitar
- Johnny Ward: vocals, guitar
- Mike Taylor: guitar, vocals
- Mike Widman: bass
- Andy Gale: drums
- Aimée Argote: piano, vocals
- Ezra-June Widman: vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Kara Frame
- Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Frame, Mitra I. Arthur, Alanté Serene, Elizabeth Gillis
- Audio Engineer: Carleigh Strange
- Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Estefania Mitre
- Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
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