FREAKS DON’T SLEEP

There are two types of people in the world, or at least in New York City: those of us who enjoy getting home as the sun rises, and those who eventually find themselves ballooning with existential dread and remorse over it (“What am I doing with my life?”). Cen, the 28-year-old bassist and vocalist of emerging Hudson Valley shoegaze band Soul Blind, falls firmly in the former camp: He knows the bodega will be open when he stops by on his way home—bleary-eyed and haggard—for his bacon egg & cheese while all the fresh-faced nine-to-fivers begin their day.

Cen (who, like Cher, only goes by his first name) and 26-year-old guitarist Finn Lovell both moved to New York City in the past two or three years—drummer Steve Hurley and guitarist Justin Sarica still live upstate—and have really taken to the whole “city that never sleeps” mythos. They are regulars at the outer boroughs’ best down-and-dirty techno joints like Basement, Paragon, and Bossa Nova Civic Club, drawn by the pounding beats, the colorful characters, and a car-free existence that allows for all-hours raging: “[The Hudson Valley] didn't facilitate anything like this. The nature of staying out till five or six is kind of hard when you live that far away and gotta drive home,” Cen explains. “I feel like this is definitely a kind of music where you have to be there and feel it more so than just, I don’t know, kicking it at home.”