RUNNING TO FIND YOU: A NIGHT WITH MIND’S EYE
BY ELLA EDWARDS
Last weekend, I hit Washington, D.C. 's Songbyrd, an intimate bar venue in the Union Market area, to cover a Mind’s Eye performance. The SoCal indie rock group brought their all for the hyped-up crowd, which included a unique, almost indescribable comedic energy. Let’s get into it.
Mind’s Eye has previously played support with late night drive home and Hockey Dad, showcasing their musical talents before a variety of audiences. Now, on THEIR US headline tour, Mind’s Eye gets to pay that forward. To kick off the show, DMV locals Acabot took the stage. With compelling stage presence and intense vocals, I was quickly sucked into the muddy, grungy musical narrative. The young trio didn’t shy away from switching up rhythmic patterns mid-song, navigating these alluring creative choices with impressive fluency and cohesion.
PHOTO BY EMMALEE SULLIVAN (FROM TOUR WITH HOCKEY DAD)
Following a great set by Acabot, Cathedral Bells came out. The Orlando-based group is sticking with Mind’s Eye through the end of March, taking their dream pop sound across the country. With twinkly, reverberating guitar coasting on top of the rhythm, Cathedral Bells is the perfect name for this band. Playing almost the entire set with their eyes closed, the four-piece seems to bathe in their own music. It’s as if Cigarettes After Sex and Radiohead had a tatted indie baby that they wanted to raise in Florida.
Having something a little shoegazey was the perfect appetizer for Mind’s Eye, who also rocked some dreamlike tracks, yet seemed to feel unbound by the confines of any particular sub-genre. Their fun, light, danceable records were accompanied by slower, more twinkly numbers, as well as heavier rock songs. They took us into utter despair with hazy, pining tracks like “running to find you” and later wrenched us out of it with more thrashing numbers, such as “Lust or Love” and “MODERN FEAR”.
PHOTO BY EMMALEE SULLIVAN
Not only did these harder and quicker records show off Mind’s Eye’s impressive musical range, but they gave vocalist Vince Lopez an excuse to depart from the stage and initiate a mosh pit in the crowd. While this was surprising to me at an indie show, it seems that Mind’s Eye fans have come to expect rather odd behavior from the group; throughout the show, Lopez confessed his love to bassist Kelli Kumiko, asked an audience member about his recent break-up only to side with his ex, and shared absurd personal narratives about his love-life. He sang to individuals, held their hands, and told a couple concertgoers to “shut the fuck up”. It was unlike any concert I’ve ever seen and, at times, felt more similar to a stand-up performance. If you like ironic air-horn sound effects between your indie rock songs, this is certainly a group for you to see live.
PHOTO BY EMMALEE SULLIVAN
With such a ridiculous, yet charismatic, front-man, it is no wonder the band has gained traction via TikTok, where these qualities are paramount to viewers. In fact, partially thanks to social media clout, Mind’s Eye’s 2021 single “wasted affairs” has reached over 36 million streams on Spotify. Despite such success, this has to be the most down-to-earth group I’ve seen in a while, hanging around before and after the performance to chat with fans, sign merch, and take selfies. Through bizarre humor and genuine human connection, Mind’s Eye is clearly operating differently. They may just be the best-kept secret of the indie genre… for now.
