Indigo Folly
Opening for Nutshell
Toad’s Place
New Haven
Jan. 16, 2026
City engineers at Edgewood Park aren’t the only ones bringing the bridge back in New Haven.
Before heading into the last glorious refrain from their instant classic “Up Your Sleeve,” Baltic-based (as in Baltic, Connecticut) grunge band Indigo Folly found time to open up the portals to heaven and hell on the Toad’s Place stage Friday night.
At a time when music platform algorithms pressure artists to make shorter songs for more plays, Indigo Folly’s sound showed the crowd just how important a buildup can be.
They were the first of three openers for Alice in Chains cover band Nutshell, who came from Boston to bring together the metal heads of the Greater New Haven area. People showed up in black and red, ripped clothing, and Black-Swan-level eyeliner.
Indigo Folly was dressed in a variety of outfits. One guitarist, Max Hillyer, wore a suit, while the other, Thomas Curran, donned a flannel, a graphic tee, and bright blue tape on his middle fingertip that echoed (or, more likely, came from the same roll as) the blue tape on his guitar. Lead singer Malachi Brown’s shirt featured the debut album cover from The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Brown started by giving props to the legendary venue at his feet and gathering the room even closer together as music-lovers, noting how lucky we are that we still have Toad’s. Then he and his band blessed the space.
From the first few notes of the opening guitar riff, I could tell their song “Up Your Sleeve” was one I had to tune in for. What I couldn’t possibly know was just how far the band would go to hurtle past my already-high expectations. Powerhouse vocals and a high-stakes moody glam edge elevated Indigo Folly to divine heights.
Pray for me, Brown sang in the chorus, My god, she’s a holy roller.
The let-loose melody and desperate words fit so well, their pairing felt like one that must have already been around for decades. The lyrics’ religious overtones found a perfect home in the drama of the music genres the band was pulling from—metal, rock, and grunge. I knew this would be the line I’d sing to myself later, on my walk to my next destination for the night.
Mood-wise, the chorus had an arc that would foreshadow larger ups and downs to come. After pleading to be saved from the charms of this “holy roller,” Brown ended the section with I don’t care to know. Good lord, she rocks my world.
Halfway through the song, drummer Jack Hillyer slowed down, adding weight to the melody. Brown leaned his whole body into the song to belt out the chorus for a second time. It was all-in. It was commitment. Standing in the front row, I truly felt myself gasp.
You might think this is too soon for the moment of catharsis, and you would be right—if that’s what this moment was. As much of a release as this second chorus was, there were still deeper depths to plumb.
I gasped too soon, is what I’m trying to say.
Brown brought the song back to a gentle reprieve, singing, Open up your arms, and come to me/ You are welcome, you’re all I need. He sang it again. Then the drums accelerated, delivering the audience to the moment that would bring everything together.
But then, Brown started.
A twist. The bridge was well on its way. The musicians took on a solemn tone as they developed a repetitive, relentless pattern of sound. Right at the end of the bridge, when the anticipation was at its height, in the middle of a word, every instrument cut.
Tyrant.
Brown continued without stopping, his unaccompanied voice taking on universes of grain and resonance in a single syllable. He was hitting Hendrix-level whammies with his vocal chords. For a fraction of a second, everything felt suspended. There was a passionate, almost sinister feel to the sound that combined with the lyric to evoke the underworld.
At this, the rest of Indigo Folly crashed back to earth, fast. Jack on drums fell back into a heavy flow, and Max Ducette on bass ripped into his instrument, head-banging along with the crowd. The guitars led a path to the final chorus.
The audience sang along, loud and with abandon. They had just been on a wild journey together, and now they were deeply familiar with the lyrics of the chorus whether they started as fans or were hearing the song for the first time.
The genre niche, humble respect for musical lineage, and intense control over tension in song structure created the perfect storm for the room’s strangers to feel like, at least in this moment, we were in it together.
