Michigania Doubleheader: Ness Lake and Parkway & Columbia
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I would die for my country, Detroit, Michigan. And by ‘my country,’ I mean the place that I lived for two years before COVID hit. Looking back, my time in Michigan (shoutout Hazel Park specifically) seems absolutely minuscule in the grand scheme of things, but even still, I formed a deep bond, respect, and appreciation for this slice of the Midwest. Seven or so years on, I still believe it to be one of the most inspiring music scenes I’ve ever been a part of and try my best to keep up with the bands I discovered while living there. In a show of respect for the Mitten State, today, in one of the year’s final Swim Selects, I’d like to highlight two projects making some of the most finely crafted music in this part of the country.
Parkway & Columbia – “Regular Signs”
Self-released
What do you get when one of the best engineers in emo takes the reins for his own band? Well, you get Parkway & Columbia, the indie rock project of Tyler Floyd, backed by an all-star lineup of Michigan’s finest musicians. Somehow, between working with countless bands and being on the road running FOH for saturdays at your place, Floyd continues to find the time to record his own music, even if it’s just a single here and there.
The latest track from the project is “Regular Signs,” a star-spackled and sturdy rock song that writhes in the uncomfortable feeling of stagnation. In this band, Tyler sings and plays guitar, but he’s also handling all the back-end work too, including recording, mixing, mastering, and production. It’s cool to see someone so deep in their bag, actualizing their vision in this way, but it’s also far from a one-man show. Backing up Floyd, you have Connor Holm (of Seaholm) on bass, the goat Jacob Hanlon (of Dogleg and See Through Person) on drums, and Willow LaForge (of Grey Matter and The Weak Days) on Vibraphone. Not only a stacked lineup, but also a perfectly tangled web of Michigan bands that shows how talented and collaborative this scene is. “Regular Signs” isn’t quite an emo song, but it does have some nifty guitarwork and earnest lyrics that should scratch a similar itch. If nothing else, it’s cool to hear Tyler voice something that’s so entirely his own after working behind the scenes with other bands for so long.
Ness Lake – Normal Speed
Self-released
Next we have Ness Lake, the uber-prolific project of Chandler Lach which spans across more than 30 Bandcamp releases. Back in the dregs of 2020, I interviewed Chandler and, a few years later, wrote very earnestly about some of the project’s singles and visuals. Much like Parkway & Columbia, I admire Ness Lake as an artist carrying out their own vision on their own terms. While “Ness Lake” is often synonymous with Lach, the scale of music ranges from solo excursions into lo-fi, drone, and slowcore to more welcoming sounds like bedroom pop and indie rock. Much of this is underwritten with emo, a label Lach would probably balk at, but one that feels like a safe point of reference given his involvement in Swordfish, an accidental-hit Midwest Emo project that inspired a million “sad fall emo” playlists. Luckily, his work these days feels a lot more intentional and mature, even if there’s the occasional pang of guitar that feels unshakably Midwest Emo.
Tomorrow, Ness Lake releases Normal Speed, the project’s 15th official album and the first full-band effort since 2018’s Kicking. If those numbers feel daunting, there’s a core group of albums that I consider to be particularly essential. First, there’s everything green and overgrown and low light, a pair of albums that feel joined at the hip by the events of 2020. Later on, racecar backwards was an invigorating and revitalizing release, while i lean in to hear you sing feels like the project’s most recent articulation. For the most part, these were still solo creations, with Lach handling all instrumentation, writing, production, mixing, mastering, etc.
Not only is Normal Speed the first full-band Ness Lake release in years, it’s also probably the best entry point into the project, offering a familiar catharsis, but swinging for the rafters in a way that only a trio of musicians can. For a project that essentially started as a musical sketch pad, the music we hear on Normal Speed is remarkably whole and thought-through.
Much like Parkway & Columbia, this sense of unity is one that can only come from a talented group of musicians working together on a shared vision. On bass, backing vocals, and synth, you have Marco Aziel (of Kissyourfriends), then on drums and percussion, you have Brandon McDole of (Great Expectations), two great musicians with their own underrated projects, but on this record, they’re all pointed toward a singular north star.
In a fun instance of Teacher Music™ carried out to its logical extreme, the band wrote and recorded the entire album at Arbor Preparatory High School in Ypsilanti, where Lach and McDole were employed as high school English and Chemistry teachers, respectively. The drums were recorded in the chemistry lab, while the guitars were primarily tracked in a classroom being used as storage for extra desks, tables, and defunct shop equipment. Eat your heart out, School of Rock. On top of all this, if things weren’t Michigan-y enough for you, the group also worked with Samuel Uribe-Botero (of Racing Mount Pleasant) to mix and produce the album.
After having heard the whole record, lead single “Fish Tank” feels like a bit of a mislead; it’s a slow start that grounds the album in a sea of ambient swirl before each member of the band gradually reveals their presence. It’s not exactly a rager, but rather a reserved welcome meant to ease you into the full band experience as they warm things up into a sensible groove. By the end of the song, Lach’s vocals are doubled up, one singing and the other screaming “Gonna put my synth in my fish tank,” and it’s hard not to be sold on that alone. One song later, the trio launches into a more amiable indie rock stride that sounds entirely self-assured as Lach’s voice rises to a wail over rolling guitars and pounding drums.
My other personal highlights include “Thrift Store Knife Set” and “Deserving,” two songs that truly go for it, crescendoing in a cathartic wall of noise and emotion. The moments where the whole band lets it rip provide a clear contrast between the Ness Lake we hear on Normal Speed and the other Ness Lake releases where Lach is capturing these sounds and feelings by himself. It’s cool, cause you can still hear both sides of this project (mainly through the shared tether that is Lach’s voice), but the full-band effect here is undeniable, powerful, and compelling.
Beyond that, there are tons of other incredible moments like the electronic blast halfway through “Clear,” the chorus of “You Get It All,” and The Horse Jumper of Love-esque “Champagne.” The whole record is a treat as a longtime fan, but also presents a perfect entry point into this body of work for those who want to descend backward into the deep reservoir that is Ness Lake’s discography.
At the end of the day, all I can say is thank God for Michigan.
