Post-punk unit Preoccupations entranced audiences at the Bowery Ballroom on June 27.

Formed in 2012, the Canadian post-punk band has been active for well over a decade, consequently boasting an impressive catalogue of five studio albums under their belts, the most recent releasing earlier this past May.

Paired with the announcement of the album, Ill At Ease, came an exciting series of tour dates that would carry Preoccupations across America and throughout the United Kingdom, including an evening in Manhattan’s own Bowery Ballroom on June 27.

Opening the evening was the wonderfully dreamy-yet-gritty unit GOON, setting the tone for the show ahead perfectly with their droning synth, gravelly guitar, and bass lines that bore teeth.

Beginning with little to no fanfare with guttural track after guttural track, the band was unwavering with their skill, a quiet confidence that bled into their sound and left giddy laughter bubbling in my chest as the overwhelming joy of just really good music took over for the first of many times that night.

Anticipation built and crowds gathered closer to the stage after GOON’s impressive introduction, and after a small wait filled with chattering and people watching, Preoccupations took the stage and almost immediately had the entire crowd in the palm of their hands.

Approaching Preoccupations’ work from a relatively uninitiated understanding allowed for commonalities to slowly piece themselves together in my mind throughout the evening, namely the group’s adoration of and deft employment of loops and repetition.

Beyond the small handful of moments in which the band took true and proper pauses between songs– predominantly to fiddle with instruments or to take a sip of water before proceeding effortlessly once more– the music felt almost constant in a manner that at times suggested the creation of a larger, multi-dimensional soundscape rather than that of individually separated traits and tracks.

Similarities can certainly be found in the droning guitar that rooted a lot of Goon’s performance to itself as Preoccupations utilized simmering basslines and drums felt faintly beneath the skin to draw the audience in before deftly taking the crowd’s attention in their hands and molding it into moments of true awe, drawing listeners out of the collective dreamstate just long enough to truly latch on to and appreciate an impressive guitar riff or a newly introduced interlude before they’re inevitably taken back in by the band’s tidal draw.

This is not to say that the Preoccupations create lullabies– far from it, actually, given their largely grainy post-punk and new wave influences– but instead that they have found an incredibly successful pocket of weaving entire sonic worlds.

While listening to their releases through digital or analog certainly allows for the tangential nature of their music to be heard, when performed live it is not only heard but experienced, lived– as is the intention and magic of Preoccupations’ performance.

During one of their rare pauses, the constant, low sound of an electric guitar’s constant drone fully cuts and the audience is presented with true and utter quiet, and it’s… jarring. Preoccupations’ success in live performance is certainly found in its enveloping nature– just as a seasoned fan next to me prefaced between sets, the evening was less of a concert and more of a holistic experience, an entrance into a world of rippling sound that I never wanted to leave.

Preoccupations also made full usage of the Ballroom’s vibrant lighting equipment, opting for vibrant reds, blues, and several shades in between as opposed to a more straight-forward pallet primed for visibility during a performance but not much beyond it… the group’s commitment to cultivating a world of their own through every aspect of their production– both sonically and in regards to the live performance experience– shone through once more.

Preoccupations’ evening at the Bowery Ballroom marked the second to last date of the Ill At Ease Tour’s North American leg, but if you’re an international traveler there’s plenty to be seen with dates for the band’s European leg spanning through mid-October.

To learn more about future shows or Preoccupations as a whole, be sure to check out their official website here.

GOON | June 27, 2025 | The Bowery Ballroom