Dutch Interior and Racecourse – Arts at the Armory

Design by Fiona Cunningham

By Mario Sierra-Roca and Julia Schramm

With the entirety of the Armory drowning everyone’s faces in blue light, whispers can be heard from every part of the venue, the excitement of seeing both Racecourse and Dutch Interior growing. Both Californian bands are loved by people in the Northeast, with Racecourse even joking “that’s the most people have cheered when we announced we’re going to play new music.” Dutch Interior and Racecourse together make for a laid-back concert experience, with soft alternative rock on the mind, these bands make a perfect fit together. 

RACECOURSE 

The Santa Cruz formed and New York based indie-rock, slowcore quintet has quickly established themselves as upcoming indie artists. With only one album, July, December, out on their Spotify, released at the tail end of 2025, the band has quickly made a name for themselves in the upcoming indie and emo scene, with some tracks off the album already at over a million streams.  

Racecourse describes themselves as “friends before bandmates, lovers before friends” and their companionship and harmony with one another was tangible, on display in front of us on the small, square center stage. They communicated musically through subtle gestures—the nod of a head or a certain look—operating like a seasoned band that’s been touring together for decades. The group happily chatted with us in the crowd like we were old friends, letting us in our their inside jokes from tour, sharing music they’re inspired by, and talking about their origins in Santa Cruz. Early into the set, guitarist and vocalist Jackson Pruett mentions growing up in California, and fleetingly connects with an audience member in front of us about their shared hometowns, prompting a warm chain reaction of bonding from other concert-goers and their respective homes. 

The set began peacefully. A few shared signals between members, and the ansty crowd hushes to make way for the gentle simmering of Joaquin Jorgenson’s synth and Ben Chung’s subtle drumming. Soon, the sounds begin to bubble into the opening song off of July, December, “My Chair”. Jorgenson and Chung are joined by guitarists Graeme Stage and Pruett, and eventually the soft, honest vocals of lead Reya Langen. She immediately captivates the small and intimate crowd with the sincerity of her voice. The spirit of the budding Santa Cruz indie-emo scene floats through each song and fringes the venue, poised over the young audience like a reassuring cloud. Racecourse is not alone in this growing sphere of bands, their rise similar to that of their musical friends, First Day Back, another recent emo group from Santa Cruz. Their debut album, Forward, was produced by Racecourse’s own Ben Chung and has received exceptional praise—so it’s no surprise that July, December is following suit.

After “My Chair,” the set once again fizzles into more sound as they play their most popular song, “Caledonia,” marked by lofi organ synth and even softer vocals from Langen. The song is popular for good reason—it sounds like a transformed lullaby, Langen’s singing is familiar and almost pillowy, cushioning itself amidst Grame and Pruett’s stunning scattered guitar and Jorgenson’s punchy synthesizer. Each member’s part fits together perfectly, and naturally, like puzzle pieces completing a tender musical anatomy.

Following their two songs from July, December, and some exchanges with the crowd, the quintet spoils us with three unreleased songs, “BBB,” “San Francisco,” and “Victoria,” each new track an exciting and beautiful expansion of their impressively already solidified energy—staying true to their voice while exploring slight deviations of sound. 

After their trio unreleased songs, and “Ballad of My Fair Lady,”  Racecourse closes out their set with their second-most popular song, “Pennybox,” and a subtle surge in energy hits the crowd. Pruett replaces Langen as the prominent vocalist on the song, with Langen following closely behind. It’s a fitting conclusion to their set, summoning back the closeness among all the members through their harmonizations, and their homemade authenticity through their candid lyrics, “I’ve got some change in my penny box / I’ll try to change but you know I don’t want to,” sharing unfeigned emotions and issues with their listeners.

Once their set is officially over, they thank the audience and express praise for their headliner and friends, Dutch Interior, mentioning their love for their newest album and gratitude for the opportunity to open for them.

DUTCH INTERIOR 

With the only differing setlist on their tour due to keyboard technical difficulties, Dutch Interior played eleven songs as a full band with Conner Reeves (guitar, vocals) performing one solo acoustic song near the end. Deeply influenced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Hank Williams alike, Dutch Interior take their post-rock roots and rinse them through outlaw, alternative country chicken picking riffs and drawn out, slightly fake southern serenadings that can leave you silent and drained or grinning, all fiddly and restless. 

As the lights dim and the sextet take to the stage we’re thrown deep into a spacey atmosphere created through a modified version of their Moneyball album opener “Canada.” Dutch Interior put on such a great show straight from the beginning that you simply get entranced by their work. Going right into “Light of Becoming,” the band’s floaty vocal harmonies show how expansive their work can be, especially their incredible writing opening up with; “If I broke the windows in my house / And willed the pieces back together / Would I retain the same view I paid so much for / Back in the 90s?”  Dutch Interior excels at painting these slightly surrealist pictures with their words, talking about love or god or a horse or truly anything they want to. In their airy third song, “I’ll Be Damned,” Conner takes us through the journey of having others trying to seep Christianity into your life but instead becoming pretty chill with the devil and smoking pot with him. 

“Ground Scores” serves as another light acoustic ballad from the band, with what I find to be some of the band’s most romantic writing, contrasting the satirical nature of “I’ll Be Damned.”. The song’s down tempo prepares you for “Fourth Street,” their most upbeat yet in the setlist. The whole crowd swayed along to the words and each head nod intertwined with drums and guitars. At this point you can see the band’s internal dream of being a jam band (as confirmed by guitarist Jack Nugent and bassist Davis Stewrt) slip out as they elongate their guitar solos almost double the length they are in the recordings. Following this comes “It’s Smokey Outside and I’m Afraid” and “Be Intense,” some of the band’s most wistful songs, stealing the night for me. Creating a dreamlike, melancholic feel more so than on their records. Keyboardist Shane Barton opens up to us in these songs, through nervous words that crackle as he sings, it’s as if your breathing stops so you can take everything in. Whenever you go to a smaller show there’s a certain vulnerability between you and whoever is on stage that arenas, stadiums and halls simply can’t replicate. There is a sense of invading someone’s privacy when they perform nervously in front of you, especially when you are there for them.  

“Cannibal Song” and “Horse” stand out in their setlist as the most light hearted, riding along the same lane as “Fourth Street”, at least instrumentally. The writing on “Cannibal Song” hits  every vein of struggling to deal with not understanding how you feel. The track contains metaphor upon metaphor about swimming pools, eating human meat, and feeling like cats chasing mice in empty houses. “Horse,” on the other hand, really only tackles one subject, trying to buy a horse. 

All of this builds up to what becomes an almost fully improvised conclusion to their show starting with their slowest song, “Say Anything,” which they slowed down even more live. While among my least favorite live, Say Anything serves as a different take on Dutch Interiors’ music; heavy, fuzzed out with silent, drowned out vocals. They barely sound like the same band but the way they go about it is undoubtedly Dutch Interior. In a blink of an eye, Noah Kurtz’s guitar string snaps mid song, but he keeps on going. After the song and as Kurtz restrings his guitar however far away from the stage, the band joke around trying to fill in time. After cracking a couple jokes and trying to figure out what to play they let Conner take over for a 1 of 1 solo acoustic performance of “I Have No Clue” stating “we’ve never heard him play this before,” and “we’ll never play this again.” This resulted in the most beautiful 4 minutes of the night, just Conner and his guitar with a singular spotlight. They wrap up the show with the whole band and Noah’s new guitar string playing “Sweet Time.” Undoubtedly their most country, “Sweet Time” clocks in at under 4 minutes but live they jam on and on and on, getting the crowd to dance and clap along. These jams in other shows have lasted up to 20 minutes. Both Jack and Davis told the crowd that when they’re able to start filling up bigger venues, they want to play 2 hour shows extending all their songs out to long jams.

While definitely a small show, both Dutch Interior and Racecourse put on incredible, from the heart performances that stay with you. Every moment is huge but intimate, nothing could take your eyes off of them.