On Thursday, October 1, 2026, the first event in a two night series took place in celebration of Ronen Givony’s book, Us v. Them: The Age of Indie Music and a Decade in New York (2004-2014). The first night focused on the collective Silent Barn, who closed their venue at the end of April 2018. The music came from artists who had a special connection to Silent Barn: David Longstreth (of Dirty Projectors; who performed a solo set), Strawberry Hands (the project of Jacob Brunner, of Philadelphia who filled in for Mal Devisa who was ill that night), Mutual Benefit (né Jordan Lee who was accompanied by the Wordless Music Orchestra), and Haley Fohr (a.k.a. Circuit des Yeux) who was also joined by the Wordless Music Orchestra plus Alan Sparhawk (of Low). After Fohr’s set, which followed introductions by Matt Mehlan of Roulette and writer Ronen Givony, there was a panel discussing Silent Barn that featured musician Carlos Hernandez (Ava Luna, Carlos Truly), Yatta Zoker (who performs as YATTA and performed the final night at their 603 Bushwick Avenue location), plus collective members Jordan Michael Iannucci and Neon Mashurov that was moderated by Givony. Before the panel began, Ronen Givony read two chapters from his book to the audience.
Photos of the first night appears in the above gallery, with a separate gallery for the second night to follow. Many thanks to Ronen for having me document this special and memorable night, which served as a benefit for Roulette and was presented by Wordless Music and BrooklynVegan.
Before SIlent Barn closed in 2018, I made portraits of members of the collective around the space that can be found here.