SKORTS sound like a band built in underground clubs while simultaneously trying to burst out of them. That tension sat at the center of the group’s opening set last week at The Basement in Nashville, where the New York band brought a volatile mix of post-punk tension, jagged indie rock, and physical live energy to an already packed room supporting Brigitte Calls Me Baby.
The cramped intimate stage ultimately worked in the band’s favor. Guitar cables tangled across the floor, bright stage lights bounced off black curtains and exposed brick. It’s the setting that lives in every garage band’s dream. Yet the music itself constantly pushed beyond the room’s limitations.
Much of that dynamic centered around vocalist and guitarist Alli Walls, who anchored the performance with a focused, almost hypnotic presence. Walls remained remarkably locked in vocally, delivering sharp melodies with an intensity that gave the songs structure underneath the group’s collective noise. The contrast became one of the set’s most compelling qualities.
Juxtaposed to Walls’ calm, bassist Emma Welch fed off the group’s indie-rock frenzy. Alongside her, guitarist Char Smith threaded sharp, anxious guitar work, helping keep the songs on edge. The tension between the three gave the set its pulse, with Walls grounding the songs just as Welch and Smith threatened to blow them apart.
The band’s sound pulled from across the rock music spectrum. Yet it still managed to stay focused. Elements of post-punk, garage rock, art rock, and fuzzed-out indie collided throughout the set. But those collisions ended in a blended sound instead of simply rebounding off one another. The songs felt shaped through live performance, but still with enough jagged edges to feel alive–a quality that we hope the band holds on to as they grow.
Closing with “Dizzy,” SKORTS leaned fully into that energy one final time. The song arrived loud, tense, and slightly unsteady in the best possible way, bringing the set to a close in a blur of tangled guitar work, restless movement, and just enough instability to keep everything feeling alive.
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