NEAR NORTHEAST
Near Northeast formed in Washington, DC shortly after meeting while playing a South Asian music festival at the Kennedy Center. Guitarist Avy has made music in San Francisco, Portland, Europe, and India. Antonio developed his approach to percussion in Bosnia and New Mexico. Violinist and vocalist Kelly grew up singing and playing in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia. Austin took up the bass during his childhood in Virginia. While their aesthetics reflect the music on which they each cut their teeth --- Latin American, Indian, Balkan, and Appalachian --- their songwriting chemistry and musically adventurous spirit reach past these reference points.
Near Northeast released their debut full-length Curios in 2015. In 2017, the band followed up with True Mirror, their full-length second album, and with Indali Variations 1-8, a cassette single featuring meditative ambient music. While True Mirror shares aesthetics and instrumentation with its predecessor, it forges forward into new ground as a band building both craft and confidence atop a strong foundation built of diverse musical backgrounds. The songs, at-times darker in tone but also more varied in their musical exploration, take Near Northeast's finely executed indie-folk sound to new heights, with acoustic ballads, electronica-inspired elegies, roof raisers and barn stompers.
Near Northeast has been featured in the Washington Post ("a world music flavor, with a little Indian influence"), DCist (”rolls in stormy waves”), Washington City Paper ("fuses Graceland grooves with ornate, chamber-pop flourishes"), D.C. Music Download ("some of the standouts were folk trio Near Northeast's intimate performance in the blizzard"), and Mecca Lecca ("straddling the line between the grandiosity and intimacy within their sound"). Curios was nominated for two Wammys by the Washington Area Music Association, and their live video "What to Say" was highlighted by NPR-affiliate WAMU's music blog Bandwidth for DC-based Tiny Desk video submissions. You can listen to a radio feature from WERA-FM here.
The band has performed at regional festivals and concert venues across the Mid-Atlantic; including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival, Fort Reno, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many music venues. They have also toured in the Northeast and on the West Coast, and are working on their first tour of Southeast Europe.
VIDEO
Indali music video, from Near Northeast's second album "True Mirror". Special thanks to guest musicians on this track -- Soumya Chakraverty (sarod), and Debu Nayak (tabla).
Near Northeast performing "What to Say", recorded live in Columbia Heights with violin, upright bass, foot tambourine, hollowbody guitar, and a tiny drum machine for the beep-boops. Video shooting courtesy of Kip Radt.
SOCIAL MEDIA
MUSIC
Click on the album covers below to digitally stream each Near Northeast release