#jason balla

[thebowerypresents]

DEHD – Brooklyn Steel – October 20, 2024

DEHD were back in Brooklyn on Sunday, the Chicago trio making the weekend last just a little bit longer, playing from their fifth studio album, the spare but energetic Poetry, at Brooklyn Steel.

Photos courtesy of Adela Loconte | www.adelaloconte.com

[nofatclips]

Letter by DEHD out on @firetalk - director/editor: Ryan Hart

[lxnelylxnely]

[iwaseasymeat]

DEHD - Lake (live @ Union Pool 5/17/19)

[nofatclips]

Lala Lala remix of Desire by Dehd from the album Flower of Devotion Remixed, out on @firetalk

[nofatclips]

Control by DEHD, live on KEXP

[karmaalwayswins]

Dehd perform a live set on KEXP in 2022.

Video Credit: KEXP

[930club]

ART BLANCHE: Ne-Hi

Chicago-based Ne-Hi have been a band for two years now and are still very much feeling out just how exactly they want to do things. This is especially true when it comes to pinning down their visual aesthetic. 

"We're all still figuring out -- and honing in on -- how we want to look visually," explained Ne-Hi singer and guitarist Jason Balla. "[It's] something we have to start thinking about anyways... because we're mostly thinking about [just the] music."

To date, Ne-Hi's approach to their visuals has been to enlist the talents of their artist friends, trusting in their ability to honestly capture the band. Their friends will generally present them with a few ideas, and the band entrust their decision with the time-tested practice of trusting their own instincts.

"It's been a process (of having an artist) create a bunch of different [choices] and picking which one is best for us. For us, it's been a gut reaction -- which is also how we write music as band; it's pretty spontaneous in what will happen and you just try to let it happen as freely as possible."

The artwork for their newest single, “Drag” (much like the art for their self-titled debut), follows this exact pattern. In “Drag['s]” case, it started with an event Ne-Hi were putting on at The Hideout in Chicago. 

"It’s a smaller room than we've been playing, but [we chose it] to try and bring back a house party aesthetic that was [reminiscent of] where we started playing when we first became a band." 

As they are wont to do, Jason and Ne-Hi brought along their friends to help with the show.

"Our friends (Troy Chebs and Austin Le Moine) run this art collective called Noble Savage  ... in addition to being visual artists they dj rare funk and soul and do dance parties every once in a while. So we had them dj and they did the poster for the event," Jason said. "I guess they went through several different ideas... but the “Drag” artwork is from one of the ideas they were toying around with for the poster initially."

“We've worked with them a little bit in the past so we had a mutual sense of their aesthetic and also [they had an idea of] of what we're going for,” Jason added. “It's like we had a working relationship where you can go to them with 'hey can you make an image for this' and they'll have things that are kicking around in their head already that are tied to where we're coming from."

Some time after the show when Ne-Hi asked Noble Savage to develop the art for “Drag,” Troy and Austin had that image hidden up their sleeve, waiting to be played, with the right hand having just presented itself. 

“We asked them if they had anything [for “Drag”] and they had just made [the cover] for us essentially without knowing it.”

For Ne-Hi, the outside help is welcome for more than just their artistic ability: the band has a great respect for an outsider's perspective.

"Everyone from the band has different tastes... so it's kind of nice to have someone make it [for us]…and we'll know it's the right one when every single person is like ‘Oh yeah, I like that.’” 

It doesn’t hurt that they have such a strong relationship with Noble Savage and the rest of the people they’ve worked with.

“It's pretty easy and nice how it worked out where they're like 'Hey, here's this great image' and it's perfect for what we're doing. Working with people on the same page is nice.”

Ne-Hi photographed by Xavier Juarez. (Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR)

When it comes to the future, Jason has an idea of a direction in which the band might choose to head.

“[Right now] we're just picking images that we like, but I think that at some point we're going to move a bit more towards that monochromatic look… we'll focus on something a little more middle of the road.”

"I think we're testing our boundaries and trying to get a right space for how we [want to] look."

For now though, they’re plenty happy just trusting their gut. 

-Dylan Singleton

Ne-Hi are currently on tour in a city near you.