On Friday, Oct. 16, the small stage at Replay Lounge was taken by Accessory, accompanied by CS Lexum and Mudskipper.
The night started with an opening set from CS Lexum and was followed with a set from Mudskipper, a local band that’s been on my radar for quite some time now.
Mudskipper is a 4-piece indie rock band that frequents venues around Lawrence and neighboring spots in Kansas City. They played a mixed setlist of both original songs and covers, their cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears being a standout rendition.
Their set ended with an incredibly catchy song; I couldn’t shake the melody from my head during my drive home and later found out it was their track “Ages”—which I have now streamed so many times that it’s landed a spot in that “On Repeat” playlist Spotify makes you when you’re unhealthily obsessed with a collection of tracks. Their sound could be likened to that of artists like Her’s, Mustard Service, or Vacations.
Accessory is the solo project of Chicago indie rock musician Jason Balla, who is a member of the bands Dehd and NE-HI. I’ve been a fan of Jason’s work with both bands for a long time now. I discovered the band Twin Peaks when I was around 14, which served as a gateway drug into the wonderful world of music in Chicago. NE-HI was one of the first bands I found alongside Twin Peaks, and Dehd followed closely behind after I realized NE-HI was no longer active, but Jason was still making music in another band.
I caught Dehd at The Granada in April of 2025, and it still serves as a standout show in my life; Accessory was no different. Balla’s latest project, “Dust,” brings a new perspective to the familiar sounds I’ve come to love in his work while blending them into something distinctly his own. “Dust” departs from the upbeat indie rock sound of Dehd, leaning into something more atmospheric and experimental; the album feels incredibly intimate but dark in a way I haven’t experienced in Balla’s work before.
In an interview with Ones to Watch by Abby Kenna, he states that “the lyricism and the topic matter—which is represented throughout the record—is darker.” Before this point, he had spoken about the events in Palestine and the Ukrainian war serving as anchor points for the track “Calcium,” regarding it as an anti-war song.
Other tracks like “Safeword” and “Blood (Magnetic)” step into intimacy in relationships and allow the album to lead with a very bittersweet tone despite the overarching theme of global dread. The lyrics are strong on their own, but the atmosphere the album builds through layering and textural intimacy balances the album’s themes and steps up where it should.
“It’s a combination of experimentation and doing stuff that feels new to me in the musical landscape, but also at the end of the day, you could just play it on the acoustic guitar, and it would be still compelling,” Balla said.
The shift from the album’s more intimate moments to its heavier atmosphere became even more prominent in a live setting. When Balla took the stage, Accessory leaned into the darker side of “Dust,” building on the album’s layered textures with a fuller, more stacked sound.
The performance felt heavier than the record at times, with its atmospheric elements taking on a new intensity that filled the small room. It was a different side of Balla’s work than I’d grown accustomed to through Dehd and NE-HI, but one that felt entirely natural to the direction he’s taken with Accessory.
Hearing these songs live gave the album’s darker atmosphere a new weight, bringing its layers and textures to life in a way that felt entirely new. Having followed Balla’s music for years, it was exciting to see him step into a different sound without losing the qualities that drew me to his work in the first place. If “Dust” is any indication of what’s next for Accessory, I’m excited to see where he takes it.