I like Baltimore: While I will never forgive the Mets for letting Pete Alonso join their Orioles, I appreciate almost everything else about the city. The Harbor and the food scene always make it a destination I suggest to folks every summer. And with the sun shining and heat rising, I say it’s a fine time to take yourself down to Charm City and enjoy a crab feast.
And perhaps you might even do so while listening to Out and Down, the first long-play record from Baltimore’s very own Thee Windows (pronounced “The Windows”). The band have been around the city’s indie scene since the earlier part of this decade, and have a couple EPs and a few lineup changes under their belt already. But even if you’re from Baltimore, you may not have picked up on this band’s existence. That’s because compared to other music scenes around the area — especially when it comes to club, hip-hop, punk, and jazz — the indie scene is less documented. But it’s definitely booming, and Thee Windows are here to take advantage.
While Thee Windows’ 2024 EP More Songs About Weather (their last release) leaned into the shoegaze side of the band’s sound, they’ve swung back toward the straight indie vibe for Out and Down. But they still keep the echoes and fuzz in the sonic repertoire, making sure not to let them reach excess. Instead, they incorporate other sounds as well: Found noises, a bit of Midwest emo, some dream pop, and a little Americana twang. The result kind of characterizes the entire Mid-Atlantic region as a whole: The loud pride of cities like Baltimore, the sizzling ennui of the suburbs of Northern Virginia, the quiet reflection in rural West Virginia, and the weirdness of Delaware.
The band have given their sound a name: “Twangklegaze”, mixing twang, twinkle, and shoegaze together to form a portmanteau that could describe a good chunk of indie bands that would fall into the jangle pop, indie punk, or power pop genres. But Thee Windows don’t fit into any of those camps. They are good straightforward 2000s-inspired indie rock, but it feels wrong to shove them in with a group steeped in nostalgia. It therefore feels accurate to say that Thee Windows have formed a sound original to them. And perhaps most great bands do that, and no one is original if everyone is, but on Out and Down, Thee Windows are making the case for their uniqueness.
Dustin O’Keefe (songwriter/vox/guitar/keys/tambourine) has led the band through its many changes. On Out and Down, he gets help rounding out the sound from Colton Ridgley (bass/vox), Johnny Gossick (keys/vox), and Dalton Maize (drums). Altogether, they weave the eleven tracks on the album through slightly varying styles: The Midwestern emo of “Um Something”, the four-on-the-floor beat of “Losin It”, the shoegaze elements of “Left On Read Street”, and the slight indie folk bluesiness of “A Town, A Year”, for starters.
No matter the style they play, the band has the sense of what makes each song work, making for a pleasant listening experience in any setting. You could sit on a boat rocking near the harbor sipping a cool beverage, or laying on a towel in Paterson Park, or perhaps you’re at one of the chic clubs or bars near Station North. Thee Windows will sound good in any of those places. Hell, maybe you’re stuck on 295 on your way from the airport. Pop Out and Down on and that commute gets at least thirty percent less terrible.
That sense of song and location, the timeless uniqueness, and the solid indie sound make Thee Windows’ new album a must-listen this summer. Even if your travels don’t take you to the great state of Maryland — in fact, if your travels involve little more than trips between your bedroom and your kitchen — Out and Down will get you through the dog days of the season and keep you feeling cool, in one sense of the word r another.
Take a listen to “Losin It” from Out and Down below. Also, if you’re reading this post between June 18th and June 27th, check out some tour dates to perhaps catch Thee Windows live across the US East Coast! (God help them – and all of us – with the World Cup traffic.)
TOUR DATES:
- 6/19 – Philadelphia, PA (house show)
- 6/20 – Lancaster, PA (The Nest)
- 6/21 – Brooklyn, NY (Purgatory)
- 6/22 – New Haven, CT (Cafe Nine)
- 6/23 – Pittsburgh, PA (Government Center)
- 6/24 – Richmond, VA (Bandito’s)
- 6/25 – Greensboro, NC (New York Pizza)
- 6/26 – Roanoke, VA (Blind House Beer Co.)
- 6/27 – Washington, DC (Simple Underground)
Written by Will Sisskind
