Family band Brother Brother impressed with their “indie rock with a banjo” style at this year’s Open Talent Night. The event was held at the Pioneer Haus on Thursday, Nov. 9, by Campus Programming and Relations. The MC’s of the night were band Brother Brother from Sarasota, Florida. The band consists of brothers Brett and Brad Anderson, a folk-rock duo. They just released their debut record, The New Kids, and coincidentally, they opened their set with the song “The New Kids” from the album.

After opening the show, the brothers mentioned how they are not used to the cold Wisconsin weather.

“This is like the apocalypse in Florida,” Brett joked.

Brad then introduced the first act of the night: Jess, Charlie and Molly singing “Life in a Northern Town.” This song was originally performed by The Dream Academy but has also been famously covered by Little Big Town, Sugarland and Jake Owen. The women harmonized during the chorus and took turns with the verses. After audience applause, Brother Brother returned to the stage where they sang an interesting mashup of The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside” and Jon Bellion’s “All Time Low” followed by another song from their new record Slowing Me Down.

“I’d never heard of Brother Brother before last night but now I’d consider myself a fan. Their use of the electric banjo was really unique I thought and it set their music apart from similar groups of the genre,” freshman mechanical engineering major Sam Bauman said.

Jess and Charlie from the first act returned to the stage for another acoustic performance of the Dixie Chick’s “Travelin’ Soldier.” Brother Brother returned again for two more songs, “Better Places” and “High on Your Love.” The Anderson brothers talked briefly about how they have been listening to audiobooks on the road, specifically Harry Potter. They got into an argument over who Hermione should’ve ended up with in the end.

“I think Harry and Hermione could’ve been good,” Brett said as he encouraged the audience to vote in their Facebook poll about what they think.

The next act of the night was a change of pace. Student Cortez Brown recited two poems.

“My favorite of the night was probably the guy who recited the two poems he wrote,” Bauman said.

Another interesting moment at the show was when student Liam performed an original. Before he played his “song,” he told the story behind it. Growing up he had a good friend named Tim who, after eighth grade, told him he was moving away. They took a long walk one day for the last time and went by the lake. They saw an eagle swoop down and grab a fish out of water.

“So, we just had to write a song about it. And it goes like this, ‘Cah!! Cah!’” Liam yelled into the mic.

The audience took a second before laughing.

“My favorite performance was the man that performed the song from the point of view of an eagle because to me that is true creativity,” freshman industrial engineering major Zac Emricson said.

The MC’s then performed more original songs, including one Brad wrote about a girl he dated named Brett. This was very awkward for Brett, Brad explains.

“I should be the only Brett in your life,” Brett said with a laugh.

For more on the band Brother Brother, you can find them on Facebook at  https//facebook.com/brobromusic/.