Uncanny Valley #1: Ethel Meserve, Static Brian at Manny’s

January 23, 2026

Hello, and welcome to my new Uncanny Valley series of posts, in which I provide my thoughts on live performances in State College and around! To kick things off, it is my honor to write about a show I saw last week and have been anticipating for over a month: local midwest emo legends Ethel Meserve’s first hometown show in more than twenty-five years, supported by contemporary Philly emo band Static Brian.

Hello, and welcome to my new Uncanny Valley series of posts, in which I provide my thoughts on live performances in State College and around! To kick things off, it is my honor to write about a show I saw last week and have been anticipating for over a month: local midwest emo legends Ethel Meserve’s first hometown show in more than twenty-five years, supported by contemporary Philly emo band Static Brian.

Interest in Ethel Meserve’s music has been peaking the past couple of years due to their recent signing by the fantastic archival label The Numero Group, which has been endeavoring to shine the spotlight on obscure punk and emo bands in addition to their customary soul and singer-songwriter compilations. The label’s efforts have definitely made a difference; the band has embarked on their first tour of the new millennium, which will take them to Philly before a few shows in Japan of all places. At the show, attendance was split pretty evenly between diehard original fans from around Centre County and younger folks from all around the Mid-Atlantic. To the best of my knowledge, however, my brother and I were the only high schoolers in attendance.

Both bands were in fine form on Friday. Static Brian’s opening set consisted of almost entirely unreleased material, including an unfinished song in which vocalist Jasmine Chesbro replaced unwritten lyrics with their thoughts on the new Fortnite season and a prog-inspired track near the end of the set that I’m really looking forward to hearing a recorded version of. I found the blend of emo, shoegaze and other sounds on their self-titled album last year pretty cool, but seeing them live has given me a whole new appreciation for their music.

Ethel Meserve’s set was also fantastic. The band has hardly lost a step since the 90s; they played their heart out on angular, snaking original songs I never dreamed I’d get to see live. They persevered through technical difficulties and guitar trouble, which often threatened to derail their show. Audience engagement was high as well, when the band offered to give a whole pie to the best dancer out in the crowd, many of the younger patrons started furiously moshing. Finally, Ethel Meserve closed out the show by playing “Calba’s Last,” a track of theirs that has gained some popularity after being featured in Numero’s enormous emo box set Sequoia last year.

Fans of the merch table were not left wanting, either. In addition to shirts, stickers and buttons, Ethel Meserve brought an exclusive Numero reissue of their demo tape on vinyl as well as original copies of their hard-to-find CD compilation Spelling the Names, both of which I was able to snag. And as to whether either of the bands has any plans for new releases in 2026? Well, I shouldn’t give anything away, but members of both bands said to stay tuned.