Watch Atlanta Duo hey, nothing Play Their First Paste Session

Chicago during the Lollapalooza weekend is a place like no other—the city is packed with buzzing fans, eager to experience a week of the music they love. Bands and artists spill into bars and restaurants throughout the Windy City, and a sort of fun, yet intense chaos is felt all around. Paste Studios, in collaboration with Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, settled in for a dynamic series of sessions taking place throughout the group’s restaurants, which offered a welcome refuge from this chaos. One of my favorite sessions of the weekend was with Atlanta-based duo, hey, nothing, filmed at the Sushi-san Lincoln Park. We set up in an ornately decorated space, which felt as cinematic as it did modern. Warm hues bounced off of polished wood, while a jukebox stacked with expertly curated ’90s hip-hop tied the room together. The space invited an intimacy that, hey, nothing took full advantage of.

The duo nearly didn’t make it to the session, through no fault of their own. Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips—best friends first and bandmates second—had gotten stuck with their crew on a tarmac in New Orleans that morning after playing a small set of their new music. After some uncertainty, they touched down in Chicago just in time to make our session at Sushi-san Lincoln Park. After their scheduled time with us, they were due for another show later that night at Chicago’s Reggie’s Rock Club, as well as a Lollapalooza set the next day. Lesser bands may have walked in without energy or motivation, but these two walked in smiling and buzzing.

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From the moment that they picked up their guitars, the vibe in the room shifted. The small crowd, made up of the production crew and the restaurant staff, fell quiet, almost instinctively. From the first notes Tyler and Harlow played, it was clear that the music of hey, nothing could easily command the attention of anyone lucky enough to bear witness.

The band played a set of two recently released singles, “Black Bear” and “Waiting Room”. “Black Bear” had only been released earlier that day, making the performance feel like a rare gift. The tune was moody and dark, with lyrics evoking imagery that stuck in my head for days after the session. I couldn’t help but picture myself fighting a metaphorical black bear in the woods–fighting for something I wanted, or for something I desperately wanted to hold on to. hey, nothing’s music and lyrics have a strong pull: it’s deeply personal, while leaving enough space for your own imagination to fill in the blanks.

The second song, “Waiting Room” is a standout tune from the group, and was defined by the strength of Tyler and Harlow’s harmonies. The duo seemed to musically collapse into each other during the performance, their voices harmonizing and blurring together into one beautiful, unique sound. This phenomenon is not something that I have frequently witnessed, and it captivated everyone in the room. With their vocal interplay in mind, audio engineer Juan M Soria chose the figure-of-eight polar pattern on his Shure KSM44A, allowing Tyler and Harlow to face each other during the performance.

What sets Tyler and Harlow apart from their peers isn’t just their shared skill, though they have plenty—it’s the way their voices and guitars mesh together seamlessly to form something that sounds far bigger than two people. What I saw and heard that evening made me feel as if Tyler and Harlow were twin vessels for one musical spirit, each one of them carrying a distinct side of something greater than the sum of its parts. It is a pleasure to watch: one moment they’re trading a grin, and you feel like you’re hangin’ with your friends, and the next you’re swept into harmonies that command emotion and attention.

Hearing hey, nothing live matched everything I’d heard online. They don’t rely on studio tricks, only raw talent shaped by years of trust and friendship. Their songs draw from Midwest emo and influences such as The Front Bottoms or Modern Baseball, but add a light folky twist a la the Avett Brothers, tied together with refined, ethereal harmonies. The result is something fresh and distinctive, and hey, nothing is certainly a group I’ll be proud to say I helped to capture.

Huge thanks to Lettuce Entertain You for partnering with Paste Studio and giving us spaces like Sushi-san Lincoln Park to host these sessions, and to our friends at Flecha Azul, Aspen Vodka, and Shure for making it possible. Being able to share such great food with the bands before/after each set was something that elevated the experience for everyone, and in the case of hey, nothing, it made an already unforgettable evening feel even more like home.