aclfestival: Can't count the years on one hand that we've waited for @paramore to make their ACL Festival debut!

Pooneh Ghana

"From Mitski:

It was an honor to headline [Pitchfork Music Festival] day 2, and especially to play alongside longtime touring friends like [Japanese Breakfast] and [Lucy Dacus]. Michelle and I were reminiscing on how far we've come.. It was a beautiful marker of time. Thank you all for having us!"

Photography by Pooneh Ghana | post & photos via Mitski's official instagram page mitskileaks

florence and the machine by pooneh ghana

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poonehghana gram

Had a fun time teaming up again with the @polaroid family for their #findingbowieness campaign, giving their limited edition David Bowie frame film a test run while on tour with @foals in December. ❤️📸

‘Bowieness’ is described as a multifaceted attitude of reinvention, defiance, and trusting your gut with your creative journey, whether it’s in music or beyond (like the legend himself). I asked @ynnsphilippakis on our last day of tour what his take on the word is: "It is fearless experimentation and daring to bring real courage into artistic decision, to push boundaries that go too far, and to leave a wide space for all artists to follow.”

Huge thanks again to both Foals and polaroid! Always an honor.

Pooneh Ghana

Joe Keery photographed by Pooneh Ghana for FLOOD Magazine

Paramore live at ACL, 09/10/2022.

📸 Pooneh Ghana

Friko Live Preview: 3/1, Metro, Chicago

Photo by Pooneh Ghana

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Chicago's Hallogallo collective is remarkably sonically diverse: There's the sneaky art rock of Horsegirl, the chaotic noise of Lifeguard, and, playing tomorrow night at Metro, the communal, orchestral indie rock of Friko. The duo of vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger have more in common with the earnest likes of Los Campesinos! and Black Country, New Road than with Pylon, Gang of Four, This Heat, or other bands generally lumped in as inspiration for the crop of young post-punk bands to come out of the Windy City and London. Friko's fine-tuned debut LP, Where we've been, Where we go from here (ATO), is as reflective and all-encompassing as the title suggests. On the album, they find fulfillment and solidarity through connection in a world that tries to prevent you from flourishing at every turn.

Where we've been is, in and of itself, a mish mosh of genres, sounds and arrangements inspired as much by Chopin as rock and roll. The opening sort-of title track and pseudo band theme song juxtaposes orchestral swells and circular guitars with group vocals, building up to the all-out desperation of punk as they sing innumerably bleak lines like, "Four feet between a wall and a window make your wife a widow" as if they're life-affirming mantras. On the anthemic "Crimson To Chrome", Kapetan sings, "I'm sitting here writing the same sad song / With the cogs on fire / Spinning on and on / Till I'm old and tired / Even then, I'm on fire," the final line recalling in spirit the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. Friko might be generations apart from The Boss, but both have the ability to make anguish sound massive.

What's most impressive about Friko, though, is that they know when to pull back. "For Ella", "Until I'm With You Again", and closer "Cardinal" are on the softer side, the first two of them piano ballads. "For Ella", in particular--which features Macie Stewart on violin and Alejandro Quiles on cello--has some of Kapetan's strongest songwriting. Wistful and melancholic, it was inspired by a visit to a graveyard in Wisconsin, and you can imagine Kapetan looking at a marked grave and imagining the current lives of loved ones and the past lives of the folks who now lie beneath. "You were running through the backyard / Said the puddles were the ocean / Now the smell of rainy days always remind me of you," he sings. "Statues", meanwhile, is a slice of moody indie rock, alternating between cleanliness and distortion, as Kapetan again imagines a world long after he's gone: "Someday we'll lay statues of our own / For now, we'll bow to memories made of stone." Pretty wise for a band just getting started.

Opening for Friko at Metro are two more bands from Chicago: synth rock dreamers Smut and alternative indie rockers Neptune's Core. Tickets still available at time of publication. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8.

Pooneh Ghana

carlyraejepsen: A day in the desert w @/diymagazine and the amazing Kate Garner whom I admire in so many ways. Thank you for this dream shoot and to Gemma for the thoughtful words on The Loneliest Time! Ps What do you think of our DIY "beach house" ?! 😂❤️

Styling: Hayley Atkin @/hayley_atkin_

Styling: Hayley Atkin @/hayley_atkin_

Styling: Hayley Atkin @/hayley_atkin_

MUA: Gregory Art @/gregoryarlt

Hair: Jon Lieckfelt @/onlieckfeltbeauty

Assistant: Sofia Armenta Reyna @/quentinsofia

Vibe Assistant: Grace O'Leary @/graceinspace

Paramore perform at Bonnaroo (2023) by Pooneh Ghana

Pooneh Ghana

JOE KEERY 2022, ph. by Pooneh Ghana for FLOOD Magazine

Boygenius photographed by pooneh ghana

On this day, December 20

In 2019: My Chemical Romance performed their first live show since 2019 at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles, California, USA. At this show, "Make Room!!!" was performed live for the first time ever. (🖤)

Watch the show here!

Pooneh Ghana