The Time of Your Life: Laundry Day Come Alive In Asbury Park
Laundry Day, (left to right) Henry Pearl, Henry Weingartner, Sawyer Nunes, Jude Ciulla-Lipkin. Photo: Camilla Ffrench
By Yaw Appiah
In an era when young artists rely heavily on social media, no one is doing it like Laundry Day. Their 15-second covers of songs like “Chicago Freestyle” and “In My Room,” are silly, catchy, and personal – the perfect segway into the LD discography.
As the sun set in Asbury Park, LD came together to cater to newer fans as well as die-hards who were present from the jump.
EARWORM is the New York City-based band’s sixth studio album and is their most polished one yet. It features a myriad of pop bangers, some slow and sweet, while others are more dance-centric.
The band entered the stage to a distorted version of “The Time of Your Life” from A Bug’s Life, which is the name of the tour. Lead singer, Jude Ciulla Lipkin, donned a tank top with “4 more” taped onto the back while Henry Pearl wore a cropped, zebra-striped long sleeve inspired by androgynous rockstars of the past.
They opened with electric renditions of their upbeat tunes – “I KINDA LIKE THAT” immediately captured the sold-out crowd with its addictive guitar chords. “ALIEN” did the same with its thumping drumbeat and Lipkin’s rap segment.
The theme of minimalist performances continued when Sawyer Nunes commanded the stage with his voice and his own guitar for a heartfelt rendition of “Jane”, while Henry Pearl and Henry Weingartner provided background chords. “FRIENDS” received a bare-bones arrangement, with Lipkin singing as Nunes provided the piano chords.
Laundry Day still had some high-energy tricks up its sleeve as “APEROL SPRITZ” sparked the audience to life with its introduction alone, which featured a catchy guitar riff. It was a powerful performance for a song whose lyrics are supercharged with jealousy over a former partner finding new love.
“Why is everyone a DJ?” was next, perfectly capturing adolescent angst and hope for the future through heavy drums and bass. The band’s final song was “SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE”, a fitting closer coupled with a frenzied performance.
EARWORM is out now. To learn more about Laundry Day, click here.