At one point, singer/songwriter Linnea Herzog realized that her “gig closet” contained more clothes than her “normal closet.” The LP Fashion Show was born. “It’s about loving that person you are onstage, and trying to be that person offstage, too.”

The album’s first single, “Looking,” is about searching for an escape, putting in the work, and doing the thing instead of finding reasons not to. These ideas represent the logical extension of Linnea’s Garden’s 2021 debut EP Nowhere Friday Nights, a joyous celebration of art, science and love. But with another year and the band’s first live shows under their belt, their sound has veered outside the lines of Nowhere Friday Nights’ straightforward power-pop-punk approach. The ‘60s backbeats have evolved into ‘70s disco beats, with an emphasis on heavier grooves and deeper themes. Hippie bell-bottoms, disco glitter, grunge flannel and combat boots, androgynous skinny ties, face gems, smeared eyeliner and mesh crop tops – Fashion Show wears it all. Staying true to their first single, they do it ‘cuz they like to do it.

Musically, “Looking” evokes a contrast between motion and stillness. The song begins with a driving bass line, clean guitar bends, and ticking clockwork hi-hats before landing on a softly delivered, Radiohead-esque chorus with a minor to major resolution. But then the vibe changes as the break slows down into a psychedelic waltz with phased-out, fuzzy guitars. A harmonic hit on the guitar brings it all back into high gear. This staple of Linnea’s Garden’s live set exemplifies a shifting songwriting approach: the lyrics were written last.

The music video for “Looking,” which alternates between live footage from the Worthen Attic and a post-show weekend in New York City, explores the contrast between gigging and everyday life. Most of the live footage was filmed by Al Crockett, who profiled Herzog for his five-minute documentary “Linnea’s Brain” (winner of Best Student Documentary of the Month from Gothamite Monthly Film Awards, December 2021). Says Herzog of the video, “Al offered us all this excellent footage to draw from, so why not use it?” The result is a live video with a twist, which flows between the gig and shots of a bedazzled Herzog dancing on a Queens rooftop and admiring the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. Linnea remembers the spontaneous 2 am shoot fondly: “I froze my ass off for art.”