High Waisted at Mercury Lounge

Jessica Dye

Recovering from a broken relationship, Brooklyn-based Jessica Dye retreated to Manhattan music clubs, where she would have a few beers, listen to bands, meet musicians, and record notes and poetry in a notebook. By 2014 Dye had become a vocalist/guitarist and formed a band called High Waisted, the name originating from a nonsense phrase she had doodled into one of her notebooks. High Waisted began performing at these same clubs and started organizing and promoting its own shows in warehouses and on rooftops and yachts. High Waisted has released a series of experimental recordings; The Acid Tapes Vol. 4 was released today, October 18, 2019. High Waisted presently consists of Dye, lead guitarist RJ Helton, bassist Andrea Scaniello, and drummer/co-founder Jono Bernstien.

Every High Waisted concert is designed to be a party, and tonight's Mercury Lounge record release performance for the release of the new album was no exception. Prior to the set, fans shared glow sticks and party hats. Dye came on stage holding high an umbrella amply covered inside and outside in billowing cotton and wearing a similarly billowing dress so long and full that it partially restricted her movements. While the band's recorded work shows a wider breath of musical aspirations, from straight surf to dreamy pop, the live performance was a romping rock and roll show with waves of lo-fi surf, psychedelia, garage, and punk. Dye sang triumphant lyrics to 1960s-style pop melodies while three musicians surrounded her with jingly, reverberating guitar leads, fuzzy bass lines, and driving drumbeats. Uptempo and summery, a good-time spirit permeated all the songs. Near the end of the set, Dye reminded the audience that this indeed was a party, and large balloons bounced to the stage. In the end, High Waisted brought a little sunshine into the nighttime.