Localized: The Lingo

On Tuesday, May 20, come to Kilby Court to set out on a mind voyage with local psychedelic rock bands The Lingo and Sad Cowboy at SLUG Magazine’s Localized show. Lit’l Grim will kick off the evening’s festivities with a killer opening set. SLUG Localized is sponsored by Riso Geist and tickets are only $5! Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and music starts at 8:00 p.m.

To call The Lingo a throwback to the ‘60s and ‘70s would be an almost-accurate misnomer. While the local psych/surf five-piece certainly draws noticeable inspiration from forerunners like The Doors, The Velvet Underground and Buffalo Springfield, they actually belong to a broader community of musicians who have kept the spirit of groovy, psychedelic rock alive through the decades since Woodstock. This community includes other modern-day bands like Babe Rainbow, Levitation Room and Holy Wave. As The Lingo’s lead guitarist and vocalist, Adam Borgione, tells me during our interview at Salt Lake Coffee Break, “We’re still out here. It still exists. It’s a contemporary thing.”

“We have our own little weird dialect we use with one another, especially me. I’m always saying weird stuff.”

The Lingo first took its current form in 2022, but Borgione and the band’s mustachioed bassist, Alex Millet, have been friends for a very long time. “I’ve known this guy since we were 10 years old,” Millet says, pointing a thumb at Borgione. Later in life, the two moved to Seattle together, and that’s where they began to collaborate musically. “He already played the guitar and inspired me to pick up the bass. We had some friends in Seattle who we started making music with and then we separated for a few years. When I moved back to Salt Lake City, we moved in together and started pursuing music pretty rigorously. From there, we’ve gone through a couple iterations of band members.” The Lingo now consists of Borgione, Millet, Joe Pedersen on keys, Sam Morrison on rhythm guitar and Bridger Croxford on drums.

“I don’t know what I write about, it’s usually just something psychedelic, something trippy, something universal, something about the human condition.”

When I ask about the band’s name, Borgione explains that it’s a reference to the unique way the group’s members speak between themselves. “We have our own little weird dialect we use with one another, especially me. I’m always saying weird stuff.” At this, the other band members nod and chuckle knowingly before Borgione continues, “And yeah, you either get ‘the lingo’ or you don’t.”

This concept of the band, as the incarnation of a strange vernacular you have to vibe with instead of intellectualize, carries through in their music. Borgione writes songs that evoke visceral mind-trips instead of imparting coherent lyrical ideas, so The Lingo’s music is more about the experience than any message. “I don’t know what I write about,” he admits with a laugh. “It’s usually just something psychedelic, something trippy, something universal, something about the human condition.”

“Right now, we’re really just trying to get an album put together.”

Here, Millet concurs with his friend. “Our sets are about imbuing emotion or a feeling.” The band accomplishes this by experimenting with dynamics, cranking the reverb as high as it will go and melding elements from diverse genres into kaleidoscopic soundscapes. As Millet tells me, “We try to fuse groove elements with psych, surf and some country.”

“Yeah, that’s true. We throw in some cunch,” Borgione jumps in, treating me to one of the infamous Borgione-isms he alluded to earlier.

Thus far, The Lingo has only released a few singles and a music video, but they’ve been spending the last year refining their process and honing in on their sound, and they have big plans for the coming year. “Right now, we’re really just trying to get an album put together,” Borgione says. The title, tracklist and release date for this album are all still up in the air. Nevertheless, The Lingo is actively recording material at Sunspell Records, which Borgione affectionately refers to as “Joe’s Zone” because Pedersen, The Lingo’s keyboardist, co-founded the studio with Wren Kennedy.

Whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool hippie who actually remembers the ‘60s or a zoomer seeking a gateway drug to old-school music, follow The Lingo on Instagram at @thelingoband to get updated when they release their debut album. And in the meantime, come experience the band’s psychedelic, genre-bending live set at the Localized show on May 20 at Kilby Court.

Read more Localized interviews here:
Localized: Olympic Deth
Localized: Vape Plug