INDEX

2026 05 20

ALEXANDRIA**
ALEXANDRIA**

“We try to mesh these things that are sweet and soft with an unsettling feeling,” Julie bassist and vocalist Alexandria Elizabeth (then known as Alex Brady) told Teen Vogue last year, in an interview that described the band’s music as evoking a sense of “foreboding nostalgia”.

The nostalgia comes from the LA trio’s unapologetic borrowing of 90s shoegaze, art rock and grunge, and channelling of bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, Henry’s Dress and My Bloody Valentine. The foreboding emanates from lyrics threaded with sinister imagery, about self-destruction and tricky relationships . With huge, fuzzy guitars, lo-fi vocals and hissing amps, their songs are bursts of raw, refreshing energy.

Drummer Dillon Lee and guitarist Keyan Pourzand, both 22, met in high school in Orange County, California before enlisting fellow student Elizabeth, now 23, on bass and vocals. Their first single, Flutter, about yearning for an estranged lover, was a viral hit in 2020. Through a blast of distorted bass and guitar feedback, Pourzand sings: “I’m draped in lead, I’m heavy as a slug/ Drag the body under the rug.” New single Clairbourne Practice, taken from their forthcoming, much-anticipated debut album, My Anti-Aircraft Friend, delivers more melancholy, as Brady sweetly intones over a wall of sound: “The things you do/ And all you say/ I’ll cut my hair another way.”

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THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2026, 11AM, NEW YORK

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GEORGIE MCKEON: Hi Chris, how are you? 

CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT: Good, it’s a rainy day, but off to a good start. 

MCKEON: Are you excited for the Knicks game tonight? 

ABBOTT: I am. I’m going to have to juggle doing this play and trying to watch in between. What time does it start? Hold on a second. 

MCKEON: I think it starts at 8. 

ABBOTT: That’s not bad. So I’ll be able to at least catch the end of the game. This is very important.

MCKEON: I heard you took Laurie Metcalf to a game.

ABBOTT: We did. Ben [Ahlers] and I took her.

MCKEON: What was that like? 

ABBOTT: She loves it. A few weeks before that game that we took her to, she coincidentally was at a game that I was at. She texted me because she saw me there. I didn’t even know she liked the Knicks and liked basketball. As soon as I found that out, we took the opportunity to all go together. 

MCKEON: That’s so sweet. Does the cast hang out much outside of the play?

ABBOTT: Our hang time is usually around the play. A natural tradition has started where maybe 45 minutes before the show, Laurie, Ben and I gather in Nathan’s room and just talk a bunch of shit. Nathan is on stage for most of the play, but in between our scenes, while we’re in the alcoves stage left or stage right, we have time for a little chit-chat before we have to head out and do some dramatic scenes. 

MCKEON: So you guys are in a headspace where you can talk and acknowledge the real world outside of the play, even while you’re in the middle of a performance? 

ABBOTT: The nice thing is that these are all pros. We’ve done a lot of shows already and so many rehearsals, so I think we’re naturally locked in at this point. We’re not having, like, water balloon fights back there, but it’s good and healthy to be able to hang out and talk. I’ve made the mistake in the past of getting too “into the zone” before a scene and that can make you get too in your head.

MCKEON: Every play, in its own way, is going to be emotionally intense. But this play is especially so. Even with the way it’s staged, it’s very vulnerable. You really just have each other up there to lean on. How did you build that trust?