Former Buckeye brakence Brings it Back Home

When I discovered brakence’s music late last year, I was under the impression that he was a small act in the glitchcore scene, so the night’s first dramatic surprise was the line winding from the Newport Music Hall doors just around the corner to the Starbucks. Additionally, brakence’s sonic alloy of Midwest emo, glitch pop, and trap/drill made for a pretty jarring junction of different fashion styles in the queuing audience.

Brakence is a child of the internet—one of the zeitgeist’s incipient Gen Z (quaranteens, if you will) musical acts—and a meteoric star rising out of our very own Columbus after defecting from Ohio State’s campus. It only makes sense that the first stop on the Hypochondriac (is still on) Tour should be back here.

Developing artist, gabby start, kicked off the night. I was mostly familiar with him for his feature on one of my favorite songs of the year, “Locals (Girls like us),” but I didn’t know any of his solo songs. His act planted the seeds of interest with the throbbing boosted bass and neurotic mannerisms akin to those of bigger Columbus band, twenty øne piløts, sprinkled throughout the performance.

However, the freshly close-cropped Randy Findell arrived on stage to roaring applause and declarations of love from men and women alike. He kicked off the night with “bugging,” which was a melodic pop introduction that quickly descended into the much more turbulent “caffeine”—a juxtaposition that threw the crowd into a sweaty frenzy like clockwork. The second track signaled a dazing change for the night’s energy that never dipped again—only peaking repeatedly during songs like “deepfake,” “intellectual greed,” “ginger tea,” and “rosier/punk2.” The absence of fan favorite “argyle” was mourned but made up for by the inclusion of his rendition of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated.” The live versions of songs only played up the strengths of each song, instilling a newfound appreciation for “intellectual greed” and pre-hypochondriac songs, building hype for new material with “metal lol,” and proving his versatility with a modified Jersey Club-adjacent outro for hyperdrill track “5g.”

To top it all off, the net proceeds of this leg of the tour are going toward the humanitarian support of Palestinian victims of the hellfire dropped on Gaza. From Randall’s provocative vocals, to Wyatt’s energetic guitar playing, to the devoted and caring dynamic with the crowd, to the conscientious cause, the night was maximized in every way. If the hometown show is any indication, the future is ‘sick’ for our favorite hypochondriac.