Love for locals at The High Dive (Photos)

Noble Monyei of Dearly Departed at High Dive (Photo by Hanna Stevens)

Seattle bands Dearly Departed, NighTraiN, and Radio Raheem played The High Dive Friday, August 13. The bill focused on great local music and strong performers rather than bands of similar genres, which was extremely refreshing.

Dearly Departed shared their melodies and beats in top form. Noble Monyei (guitar) and Kira Shea (synth and keys) each have very distinct voices which, together, cover a huge range. Richness on the low end, precision on the high end. The trio performed a tight set that included all three songs from their demo, and a few people were humming hooks from their songs afterward.

Four-piece punk band NighTraiN were on next. The four kick-ass women sang, shouted, and traded instruments throughout their melodic garage-rock songs. Bassist Selena Whitaker-Paquiet took the mic for their song “Mating Call,” and the interactive crowd got a little rowdy in response.

At this point, High Divers wanted to keep dancing, and vocalist Josephine Howell was running late, so the other four members of Radio Raheem started off their set with several covers. When Howell took the stage, the missing piece completed the band and kicked a fiery, fun set into motion. Howell’s melodies and multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rasmussen’s tenor sax improv rounded out Radio Raheem’s sound and gave their performance drive and energy that translated throughout the crowd, which had become more of a dance party.