W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Gladie & Noun Torch TV Eye (2026-05-08)

Gladie and Noun wound down their monthlong tour this past Saturday in Philadelphia at the fabled “church”, AKA First Unitarian Church.  I got to catch their second to last show of the tour the previous night at Ridgwood’s TV Eye.

It was obvious to all in attendance that all the band members on this tour had an absolute blast on the road these past weeks.  With band members dancing in the wings or even front and center in the crowd, it was such a pleasure to see the support and comraderie between all the participants.

As far as Noun goes, this group is the latest project of Marissa Paternoster, former lead person of NJ’s Screaming Females.  It should not come to anyone’s surprise that Paternoster is one of the best guitar shredders in the current indie music sphere and Noun clearly showcases her fretboard mastery.  That beung said, the band’s sound is DARK, I mean very dark.  Dark as in the darkness of the death metal which Noun’s sound borders on.  Now death metal is not a genre that does much for me, but Noun while probably not squarely in that niche flirts with that sound but with what appeared to me be a jazz structured undercurrent which proved to be a masterful match in musical styles.  Could Noun be the creator of a new death jazz metal genre?

As far as Gladdie’s set was concerned, this current itteration of the band is easily the best version of group that I’ve seen.  Evan Demianczyk and his jumping jacks while pushing out masterful basslines seems to have added a new punch to the Gladie sound.  Of course Augusta Koch, Matt Schimelfenig and crew are out touring their fantastic, best album of their career (thus far), No Need To Be Lonely and while these tunes manage to jump off the vinyl when listening to the LP, live the tunes breath new life into the raw emotions which went into these heartfelt beauties.  Koch, who bears her soul on this album is clearly in a good place right now, reveling in the relationships and friendships which play such a central role in the them of No Need To Be Lonely.  And as happy as Koch appeared to be on stage singing and talking about her amazingly powerful new tunes, this contentness was countered by some of the most ferocious guitar playing I’ve ever seen from Matt Schimelfenig.  He was absolutely on fire throughout the set.  I’m not sure if this had to do with his abandonement of playing keyboards this go around but damn, hig guitar slinging was truly special.

All in all, what a special evening of indie rock from two bands of great friends.