Rather than the tempered appeal of girl groups past, North Dakota unleashes on the crowd more like feral children armed with instruments. Emily Hobeheidar, Mo Neuharth, and Michelle Blades join forces under the banner of North Dakota to create an art-punk, lo-fi, all-girl choir of boisterous chaos.
The success of the group’s experiments in sound can be easily evaluated in its rate of return… meaning, for all the noise issued from the stage, the crowd returns with equal fervor in applause, sing-a-longs and general ruckusness. The music itself brings to mind Thee Oh Sees or Marnie Stern, both avant-garde in their approaches to constructed noise. However, when combined with vocals, North Dakota sounds like the All Girl Summer Fun Band smashed together with a little L7. I’m not just tossing out names of chick rock bands either, think about it. Fun-loving, pop-punk gals mixed in with some tampon-throwing potential toward rage and instability.
The musical trio behind North Dakota emerge from somewhat surprising backgrounds. Emily Hobeheidar made a name in the Valley music scene from the folksy trio of Sisterbrother while Michelle Blades is something of a sweetheart of the Phoenix indie circuit (and a personal fav). Mo (or Morgan) Neuharth initially came to our attention for her work as a photographer. All three players are multi-instrumentalists so they rotate positions between keys, guitar and drums throughout their performances.
The North Dakota’s lyrics push the band to the more unconventional side of the room. Stripped down songs like “Dancing on the Drummer” keep up the taunting rhythms, incorporating the words into the overall motion of the sound rather than an overlaid adage. Chants of “lalala” intermingled with yips, yelps, screams, and lyrics that read like flarf poetry bound with the music sprinkled with only the occasional generational reference a la Moldy Peaches to things like Pokémon or Mortal Kombat.
The members of North Dakota often don wigs for their live performances leaving me wondering how much of their onstage persona is assumed for that purpose. Are these really just nice girls without the fuck-you attitude offstage? Would they really just “take your photo” or would they ask politely first? I ask only because I found myself occasionally wanting a little more tantrum and a little less art project but I was never lacking for a good time.
Get out to see North Dakota as soon as you possibly can. Punk rock and wigs. Great music and fierce performers. You can’t go wrong unless you miss out.
