Pitchfork Festival 2022
Union Park | Chicago, IL
Photos by Morgan Winston | Review by Mar Christiano
This year’s Pitchfork Music Festival was a soggy celebration filled with a stacked lineup including Dry Cleaning, Mitski, Earl Sweatshirt, and many more. The rainy weather is a fitting symbol for Pitchfork-goers, as it seems the festival continues to take place on the rainiest week in Chicago, where the determination of music fans shines brighter than their instagramable, festival attire. Attending Pitchfork has become a rite of passage for indie folks who come to thrash in the mud alongside listening to their favorite beatnik performers. The event is a touchstone for indie performances and celebrates the newfound success of artists’ shift to notoriety.
The Honey Punch Mag team looks back on a few sets that blew us away, highlighting both ambient performances and fresh, new voices who left our ears fulfilled. Discover the artists below.
Friday
Arooj Aftab
The preface of the festival started with Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based composer and singer Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani woman to not only win a Grammy but to be nominated for one. Her set conjured the crowd through a meditative trance of classical instrumentals, Sufi spoken devotions, and electric vocals from Arooj Aftab herself; a reverberated echo heard throughout the festival grounds. The critically-acclaimed quartet crafted a light, incandescent set for the lost souls.
Indigo de Souza
Just in perfect time with the Chicago storms, Indigo de Souza raised a hue and cry with symbolic, angsty scuzz from her bandmates paired with her ghostly yodeling and vocal shifts. As the crowd dressed in colored ponchos and used raincoats as picnic blankets, they sang along to every word of How I Get Myself Killed while tilling mud between their shoe and the soil.
Wiki
Underground New York rapper Wiki debuted his charming smile and iconic dialect at the festival alongside Wiki’s producer Subjxct 5. The duo told a story to the crowd through trembling tracks, long-winded monologues of his New York roots, and new sounds from the upcoming release, Cold Cuts, a mixture of “the disco era and the Memphis era all in one” says Wiki.
Saturday
Lucy Dacus
Lucy Dacus kept it sweet yet heavy explaining “Not really a festival tune” after singing “Thumbs” off 2021 release, Home Video. Lucy and her band matched the festival’s brooding energy while finishing with a thunderous cover of Cher’s “Believe” that invited the crowd to smile and sway while soulfully participating in the sing-along.
Japanese Breakfast
Japanese Breakfast smashed through her musical toolbelt in a quick hour-long set. During the outset, she was radiant with her pop aesthetic and wearing what seemed to be a poodle across her chest with a gong mallet in hand during Jubilee songs “Paprika” and “Be Sweet” (a crowd favorite). Later, she welcomed Chicago musician Jeff Tweedy and performed harmonies between the two while ending with an iconic hard rock performance, the gong mallet substituted for her electric guitar.
Mitski
The luminous artist, Mitski, headlined on Saturday and played through her greatest hits one after the other with no room for breath. Surprisingly, showing off tracks from 2018’s Geyser more than her recent release, Laurel Hell. Mitski ran around the stage performing interpretive choreography while the crowd reacted to every step, kick, and swing. One true art performance that kept the crowd wired after two lengthy, wet days.
Sunday
L’Rain
L’Rain kicked off the last day with some chopping, jamming, and howling with the crowd through experimental soundscapes, contorted rhythms, and versatile jazz melodies. Her technique and style reflect her multi-instrumental background in performance studies at Yale University. The set felt like a daydream on a loop that I wished would never end.
Cate Le Bon
Secluded on the Blue Stage, Cate Le Bon’s performance was hypnotizing and immersive, her warm vocals colliding with the band’s austere instrumentals. The set focused on her latest two albums, Pompeii and Reward, from the peculiar bop of “Home to You” while the crowd cooed every word back, and the luminous hymn “Daylight Matters” repeating “I love you but you’re not here” a melancholy tune that lasts longer than the hour-long set.
Earl Sweatshirt
The jazzy, lackadaisical rapper Earl Sweatshirt, partnered alongside DJ Black Noi$e, brought cynical wit and bouncy tracks to Sunday’s lineup. Earl enters every stage exhibiting his zen yet explosive personality through connecting with the crowd or bringing out niche material, such as “E.Coli” an internet deep cut that leaked across online platforms before debuting on The Alchemist’s Bread EP. It is worth mentioning his closed, smudged sound feels anticlimactic in a midday festival setting. His immersive sound is suited for a small, shoulder-to-shoulder venue than an expansive festival to fully display the outcome of tracks like “Titanic” from his most recent album Sick!. Earl Sweatshirt is a bucket list performer; we recommend buying a ticket to a venue where his sonic talent can be entirely appreciated.
Toro Y Moi
Through relentless weather, Pitchfork 2022 is a reminder of what it’s like being a music lover. Embracing discomfort to see that favorite artist or favorite song alongside a community of like-minded individuals twirling next to each other — just keep your dress shoes at home.