Teen Commandments were another band we saw on a whim, based on the strength of their music on Spotify.

Like many bands playing CMJ, this four piece were based in Williamsburg and are a regular fixture playing gigs on the New York party scene. Starting as a duo, who met on Craigslist no less, the original pair Nick and Brett wanted to make music that sounded like it could soundtrack a movie. Their euphoric brand of synth pop does just that, reminding us of a New York version of the much loved Monarchy, and drawing definite influences from the likes of Talk Talk and, on the witty ‘American Special‘ – David Byrne.

Adding Van and a man fantastically named ‘Hampus Ohman-Frolund’, Teen Commandments are now a exciting, tight, four piece. Playing a dark showcase in the afternoon on a bright sunny day they impressed us both with the songs and the amount of fun they seemed to be having.  Had it been a bit later in the day and the right audience we would have been down at the front dancing throughout.

With every other person in Williamsburg in a band, there’s probably a lot of synth-pop collectives to sort through, but if Teen Commandments can be bothered to work it outside of the New York scene, we get the feeling these boys could be pretty huge.

Photos by Jeugen Braun.