Brian Slattery Photo
Mike Scialla of T!LT.
On Sunday evening just before 7 p.m. five new bands arrived at Space Ballroom in Hamden. About three and a half hours later, the audience had seen over a dozen musicians representing the youngest generation of the area’s musicians — many of whom honed their skills during the shutdown and are now more than ready to take their place in New Haven’s music scene.
Superposition — Sean on vocals, Mike and Tpags on guitars, Marty on bass, and Merritt on drums — began the evening with a set of raucous emo originals that set the tone for the bands that followed. With nary an introduction, Merritt unleashed a roll from his drums, and the entire group was off to a roar. The drums powered the Rhode Island-based band, letting bass and guitars create a dense, crunchy sound for the vocals to tear a hole through the middle of. The crowd responded with howls and cheers at the end of each song. The members of Superposition also established the pre-Halloween theme of dressing in costume; in their case, as deceased musicians, from Warren Zevon to Kurt Cobain.
The New Haven-based Esmer — Justin Esmer on vocals and guitar, Sebastian Bernal on bass, Brooke Dougan on guitar, Ben Bailis on keys, and Cam Hall on drums — then took the tone Superposition had established and flipped it on its head. Esmer’s sound drew on elements from R&B and hip hop to create the context for confessional lyrics ranging from romance to just dealing with the current state of the world and yourself.
“This is a song about being a stranger in your own body,” Esmer said to introduce one song. For another song, he said, “I had Covid when I wrote this one. Every time I play it I feel I have to say that” — not because it was a mark of suffering on his part, but because it conveyed a sense of what many had gone through. That song was about learning to relax under pressure. Esmer already had a core group of fans in the audience who knew all the words to his songs, and crooned along with him. The band excelled at slow jams, but toward the end of the set, as if handing off the evening vibe in a relay race, they kicked up the tempo, getting people moving. It was a prelude for what was coming.
Retrosolo — the songwriting project of Miguel Loor, performing with his backup band The Constellations, featuring Gem on bass, Tim on lead guitar, Patrick on keys and Dom on drums — started off with a bang, as Loor paced the stage in the best punk tradition and the band raged through a rocker that got the crowd bouncing. Loor’s songs tended toward the anthemic, with big melodic hooks, delivered in a clear voice that made even the ragers sound personal.
Loor had been the main organizer behind the entire evening, and his community-minded spirit was on full display in his abilities as a frontman, whether he was quickly teaching the crowd to participate in a shout-along chorus or humbly giving a little of himself to connect with people on a human level. He gave thanks for his band, too, in fleshing out his songs. Introducing one, he said, “I wrote this song when I was 15. Then I wrote a new version for my band.” The tone in his voice showed the value he placed in collaboration — first with his band in making the music better, and then with the audience, in making it all come alive.
With the audience revved up, T!LT — Mike Scialla on guitar and vocals, Luca Costantini on guitar, Hayden Carter on bass, and Luke Kraszewski on drums — made the room explode. T!LT’s recordings give the band a sultry, moody indie rock vibe. Live, however, the band ripped like punks. Scialla’s and Costantini’s stabbing guitars, Carter’s pulsing bass, and Kraszewski’s pounding drums whipped the crowd into a moshing frenzy again and again, showing that, beneath the squall of noise, they were actually a very tight band. T!LT’s set was an exercise in pure catharsis, and the band knew it.
“For this last one, if you have anything left in you, now’s the time to get it out,” Scialla said. The last rager found Scialla screaming out the lyrics “I think I’m coming out of my cage,” while Carter hopped off the stage with his bass to join the surging crowd, ending up on his knees on the stage, hunched over his instrument, while the rest of the band and most of the audience staggered and swayed around, under the influence of the music.
As Pond View — Luke Kraszewski on vocals and guitar, Josh Sansone on Bass, Mike Scialla on vocals and guitar, and Matt Nagy on drums — set up on stage, someone got up on stage with a handful of items that had dropped from pockets during the chaos of the last set (keys, glasses, a wallet) and promptly returned them to grateful audience members. Pond View then continued the good vibes, trading T!LT’s thrashing sound for something even more obviously danceable. The crowd wasn’t ready to go home and moved accordingly. About halfway through the band’s set, Kraszewski made an announcement: “We’re going to groove a little for this one but don’t let it bring your energy down.” It didn’t.