After a critical breakthrough, two members of Florida emo mathletes Pool Kids decamp to Chicagoon March 7, 2020 at 2:00 pm

In April 2019, Paramore front woman Hayley Williams posted an Instagram story about Pool Kids, a largely unknown emo band from Tallahassee, Florida: “This is what Pmore WISHED we sounded like in the early 2000’s.” About two hours earlier, Bandcamp editor Zoe Camp had tweeted a link to Pool Kids’ 2018 self-released debut, Music to Practice Safe Sex To, writing that the album “sounds kinda like Hayley Williams fronting Cap’n Jazz.” All of which is to say that, in the case of Williams and Pool Kids, real recognizes real. Guitarist and vocalist Christine Goodwyne guides the band through contemplative, quiet melodies and athletic, mathy passages whose guitar patterns race in dizzying hyperdrive; her strong-willed singing can cut through the loudest moments with forceful clarity. After Pool Kids caught on last year, Goodwyne and bassist Nicolette Alvarez moved away from their native Florida, as they’d long wanted to do, and in November they relocated to Chicago. (Drummer Caden Clinton and guitarist Andy Anaya stayed behind.) “We have a large group of friends already based in Chicago, so why not,” Alvarez says. “The idea of living in a centrally located large city with various different thriving music scenes within it also appealed to us!” With any luck, they’ll maintain the energy that enlivens Music to Practice Safe Sex To and bring it to Chicago’s independent punk, emo, and indie-rock scenes–and to this show at Concord. v

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