Bryant Park Picnic Performances presented by Bank of America season of free, live performances continues with Emerging Music Festival, Bryant Park's annual celebration of young indie, rock, folk, soul, and global bands featuring eight bands over two days on Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29. Saturday performances include noisy Chicago rock trio Horsegirl; critically-acclaimed pop from Hannah Jadagu; Iris James Garrison's project, Bloomsday, which will release their new album Heart of the Artichoke in June; multi-instrumentalist Greg Mendez; and Victoria Rose's folk-pop project @.

Attendees may bring their own food or purchase from on-site food and beverage vendors near the Lawn. At all performances, attendees can discover new dishes and celebrate classics from the five boroughs with a rotating line-up of artisanal vendors by Hester Street Fair. Stout NYC offers light bites as well as a selection of beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase.

Horsegirl is a noisy rock trio from Chicago composed of Penelope Lowenstein (she/her), Nora Cheng (she/her), and Gigi Reece (they/them). Horsegirl draws inspiration from shoegaze and post-punk, in the realm of ‘90’s American and UK indie underground.

Hannah Jadagu released her debut EP, What Is Going On?, a collection of intimate bedroom pop tracks recorded entirely on an iPhone 7, which was, at the time, Jadagu’s most accessible mode of production. An off-the-cuff approach to music making and instinctive ability to write unforgettable hooks belied the intensity of Jadagu’s subject matter. In 2023, Jadagu released her ambitious debut album, Aperture, which The New York Times applauded for "Jadagu’s easy aptitude with lilting melodies and her love of deliciously crunchy texture."

Bloomsday is the tender, cerebral project of the New York-based Iris James Garrison. Their debut 2022 album Place to Land, was largely about transitioning and finding a home in their identity, body, and in other people. Since the project's inception in 2019, Bloomsday has toured the US extensively, including supporting Becca Mancari and Joe Vann, sets at Hopscotch Music Festival and SXSW, and playing with Courtney Barnett and Bonny Doon. Their music has been featured on NPR New Music Friday, Nylon, and Paste, among other publications. Bloomsday's new album, Heart of the Artichoke, is out this June via Bayonet Records.

On Greg Mendez's most recent release, Greg Mendez, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isn't a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humor. While this is technically Mendez's third full-length album, his back catalog boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. He's a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction. 2017's ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and 2020's Cherry Hell garnered acclaim for their quiet, lo-fi urgency, exploring themes of addiction and heartbreak with an intentional, authentic haze, and it's this approach that has solidified Mendez as a staple in the DIY community for years.

@ (pronounced “At”) is the folk-pop project of vocalist/guitarist Victoria Rose and multi-instrumentalist Stone Filipczak. Their debut 2021 album Mind Palace Music was released to rave reviews; Pitchfork said, “Mind Palace Music is an example of what happens when you take a poignant songwriter who’s careful about her chord progressions and introduce a fellow songwriter who knows the magic of no-frills arrangements.” In 2024, @ released their new EP "Are You There God? It’s Me, @." Diverting from their usual acoustic instrumentation, @ go soul-searching on a sonic side quest into more electronic music.

Bryant Park, 6th Avenue between 40th and 42nd Street Map
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