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In 2026 it’s a unicorn occurrence to see a midwest emo band on the same bill as an indietronica group. Since the genre’s surge in popularity, New York indietronica duo Ideasforconversations have blown up, even being namechecked alongside bassvictim and ear in a sleek infographic calling 2026 “the year of the electronic duo.” Like other androgynous guy-girl couplings with an SP-404 drum machine and a synthesizer, ideasforconversations became favorites on Nina Protocol and NTS radio, and it seemed like they were part of a wave of dozens of acts experimenting with electronic dance music.
The first time I saw ideas perform was with Holidays in United States, a midwest emo band from New York. The show was in a small anarchist bookstore in South Williamsburg (Property Is Theft, or P.I.T.), and I figured that the two bands were put on a mixed bill by chance. It wasn’t until after that I learned they had released a split album together alongside emo band Branching Out (who were also playing P.I.T. that night), and that the two bands were friends with each other. Two years later though, it’s hard to see why they’d share a bill after indietronica has become one of the most hyped and fastest-growing scenes in New York. But tonight I’m seeing Holidays in United States play with ideasforconversations perform together again, on top of an oil tanker, no less.
It’s still light out and the members of both bands are milling about aboard the deck of the Mary Whalen, an 88-year-old boat docked in the westernmost point in Red Hook. An array of Bushwick-famous characters and other musicians are drinking and chatting with the bands and an old couple dressed like fishermen are standing on the ship’s bridge, in front of which a makeshift stage has been set up. On either side of the 25ish-foot-wide main deck are lower platforms stretching the length of the ship. People’s legs are draped over the sides, drinking beer they’ve bought from the merch table near the boarding ramp, some stand on the lower level, resting against the sides of the candy-red hull. People have already started crowding around the flat stage, which consists of two PAs on the deck in front of an un-mic’d drum kit, some guitar amps, and some mics underneath a white pyramid tarp on poles.
When opening act Myra Lee takes the stage the crew have stopped letting people on board. There are some 200 people on the deck, and it seems like if anyone were to push too hard, the crowd would topple over into the wharf basin. A wall of faces is looking through the steel-linked safety fence to get a look at Lee’s set above. It’s hard to tell who’s here for which band, everyone here’s in shorts or jeans and a T-shirt and the age demographic ranges from high schoolers to thirtysomethings with some fiftysomethings sprinkled in.
All the gentrifying New York neighborhoods that are hubs of nightlife have a particular crowd of devotees, and attract a particular scene of young people. I can get to most venues by taking the L, J, or M train (off the top of my head: Market Hotel, Trans-Pecos Baby’s, Stone Circle Theater, Trash Bridge, [untitled]’s HQ, TV Eye). Red Hook was gentrified a full decade ago, but this marina is still surrounded by desolate blocks of warehouses. The ordeal of getting here seems like an equalizer; people have gone out of their way to get here despite it being nowhere near other clubs. They nod attentively to slowcore openers Myra Lee as the deck gets crowded. It’s dark, and the stage is flanked by the illuminated Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline on the right and a full and luminous orange moon on the left. The view is idyllic, and a rope of lights tied between two deck poles lights up before Holidays in United States start setting up their equipment.
This is the first time I’m seeing Holidays perform with their new singer Annika Haakonsen (also the singer with indie songwriter Zachshots and screamo band Cash Only Tony’s). She stands with her arms at her side or tucked behind her back for the entire performance, shoulders swaying back and forth behind the mic stand. The rest of the band is similarly stationary, with bassist Kali Flanagan standing back-to-the-audience in front of the drum kit and guitarists Connor O’Doherty and Garry Seamans planted on either side of Annika. Several fans snake their way through the mass of people to get to the front.
The twinkling guitar tapping of the band’s first song makes the crowd get quiet. It’s “Girl Problems”, a brand new song. The guitar lines are straight American Football, with a bit more speed and a lot more looseness. The guitar and basslines, delicate and silky, sound like they’ll rip and come undone at any moment. Haakonsen’s voice is smooth and melodic against the bark of Seamans’ and O’Doherty’s gang vocals. They sing like a choir, breaking down the confused angst of each lyric into individual vocal parts for despondence, yearning, and rage. Simon Rosenthal’s drums weave around the voices and guitars before kicking into a slammable double-time beat, and the crowd furiously dances in place. People try to pogo without bumping into someone and sending them over the deck railing. No one’s throwing hands or shoving, the only reason bodies are bumping into each other is because of the hazardously thin deck.
Some people wouldn’t look out of place if they were dancing like this at an electronica show. The environment seems far less judgmental than a gig in the New York screamo scene, which O’Doherty clarifies Holidays aren’t really a part of: part of the reason why they share bills with indietronica bands is because the 2nd-wave emo scene is far smaller than the more aggro and chugging screamo that’s having a massive surge in New York. He explains that Midwest Emo bands are floaters, more so than screamo groups. While his band has blown up and started touring with national midwest emo acts like Oakwood and Algernon Cadwallader, gigging in New York is a unique situation where they are often joined by acts that sound nothing like them. They’ve earned a following that is wide-reaching, but clearly devoted: songs from the band’s previous albums like “1v1” and “RIP J. Mascis” elicit very loud singalongs from the diehards at the front of the crowd and dancing from the audience onshore.
The band introduces a slew of new songs, including one called “Topics for Discussions”, which gets some laughter when introduced. It’s also announced that Annika is engaged as of last night (when the band played a sold out show at Trans-Pecos and her boyfriend in aeiou proposed onstage). This seems to double the crowd’s energy as they plough through their final songs. “Topics for Discussions” doesn’t sound anything like the instrumentation of an ideasforconversations song, but the winding structures of their songs have the same gear-shifting, ADHD-satiating momentum that ideas songs have. The crowd practically howls the chorus to “Dog Song” as the band tilt their mouths to howl at the sky. Emotional rapture has been achieved, and the band walks offstage into the crowd of fans and, perhaps, emo converts.
ideasforconversations set up immediately after “Dog Song” ends, leaning over a folding table of Roland drum machines, mini-synths, and a mixer. The crowd on shore has amassed to maybe 75 or a hundred, and now an ice cream truck is sitting in the otherwise-vacant parking lot waiting for kids to get off the tanker. Emerson Fossett and Mollie Gilbertson are quiet and unassuming, dressed in hoodies and plain T-shirts. They’re far less social than Holidays, eyes locked on their table of equipment as the crowd bounces to the caffeinated beep of “14c4”. Gilbertson occasionally hiss-whispers into a microphone hooked up to a vocal processor as Fossett sings the bitcrushed pop hooks on “honest.” The crowd is far more pushy for them than for Holidays, and seeing the old couple who help run Portside coolly looking over a push-pit on their boat from behind the stage is wholesome and amusing. Ideas get an encore and play fan-favorite “needle”, a glitchy pop song with warm, buzzy synths. The crowd nags for another encore as ideas quietly walk offstage.
Most people stay on the boat for 30 minutes after the music’s over, hanging with the musicians before making the walk across the desolate block to the bus. I get to talk to Rosenthal and O’Doherty from Holidays about if they’ll play with ideas again in the future. Rosenthal tells me about their upcoming shows to prepare for their new album’s release, and that they’re playing a show with a predominantly emo lineup (Rosenthal is also a member of the aforementioned aeiou, another emo band who they share bills with). O’Doherty says that the shows that they play with ideasforconversations are typically at DIY venues, which accept mixed bills more often than other venues. This in turn allows them to have shows at unique venues that don’t have crowds of regulars. They’ve already been gigging with a more emo crowd, but future shows with ideasforconversations are not out of the question for them.
Alas, they can’t all be DIY oil tanker shows, but hearing these two bands back to back with a scenic view and on an cute boat is a joyous experience. I very much hope Holidays and ideas’ schedules line up again.
Holidays in United States’ new album “How to Count to Five” is out now. Ideasforconversations are touring Europe with MGNA CRRRTA and Feeble Little Horse next month.
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