Cheekface played Brighton Music Hall – 9/20

“America’s Local Band” Cheekface headlined a sold-out BHM with Apes of the State and Sad13.

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Even if it’s not strictly your thing, you’ve gotta admire what Cheekface have built for themselves. Formed in L.A. nearly a decade ago, the band has doggedly maintained a DIY ethos, self-released most of their music and used their talk-y post-punk-y power pop to cultivate a genuine cult following complete with its own rituals and in-jokes. They may not be a household name, but people who know Cheekface know Cheekface.

That effect was on full display at Brighton last month for a Sunday night sellout that was about as packed as I’ve ever seen the room. The core trio of singer/guitarist Greg Katz, bassist Amanda Tannen and drummer Mark Edwards, plus an auxiliary multi-instrumentalist, delivered a generous set of their witty and weirdly danceable songs.

Lyrically dense and populated by hypermodern anxieties, the Cheekface sound finds both humor and catharsis in the sheer absurdity of daily living in These Times. “The rent is down in my mind these days / Things move in, and they don’t have to pay” goes one chorus from this year’s Podium (the prolific band’s sixth LP in 9 years) – one of many resonant gems in their loquacious songbook. We’re all trying to make sense of literally anything going on politically, socially or economically in the current American hellscape, and that Cheekface feel like they’re plainspokenly right there with us goes a long way to unlocking their enthusiastic appeal with a young and extremely dialed-in fanbase. They can also simply be a lot of fun. “Noodles” (an ode to – you guessed it – noodles that’s typically played at least a handful of times per show) doesn’t have to carry the weight of any of that.

Check out a gallery from the show below, including the fiery folk-punk of Lancaster’s Apes of the State and a solo set from Sad13 – aka Speedy Ortiz’ Sadie Dupuis, supporting her great July mixtape project 1331.