The Army, The Navy Brings Their Harmonic Chemistry to Sold Out Show in D.C.
march 24, 2025 - washington, d.c.
An array of eight guitars adorned the stage of Washington D.C.’s The Atlantis Monday night as a buzzing crowd stood awash under cyan blue lights awaiting a sold out show from The Army, The Navy.
Composed of childhood friends Maia Ciambriello and Sasha Goldberg, The Army The Navy brought their irresistibly smooth vocals to the nation's capital as part of their GENTLE HELLRAISER Tour. Playing a mix of songs from their two EPs and unreleased tracks, Ciambriello and Goldberg wooed the crowd with their effortlessly stunning harmonies and engrossing stage presence the whole night.
Indie folk artist Aggie Miller opened the show with her wide vocal range and acoustic guitar. Playing songs from her debut self-titled album, she said it was nice to perform her music stripped down as she first wrote it. To the crowd’s delight, she finished her set with a cover of Mitski’s “I Bet On Losing Dogs.”
Ciambriello and Goldberg entered the stage 20 minutes later under a flood of blue lights and in front of a large white tapestry with three rows of lingerie hanging from it serving as a backdrop for the show. Multi-instrumentalist Jess Kallen joined them to play electric guitar, bass and keyboard.
The lights turned yellow as the duo opened with “Gentle Hellraiser,” a soft track from their first project, Fruit For Flies. The three-and-a-half-minute song is an apt introduction to The Army, The Navy; their tender and relaxed sound mixed with their frank songwriting and free-spirited energy make for a charming musical dichotomy.
As they went on to perform songs like “Bookend” and “BBIDGI,” the theme of the night emerged: Ciambreillo and Goldberg would casually pull out impressive vocal runs and riffs, causing a sea of cheers from impressed audience members. The band returned the love, pointing to the crowd when singing lyrics like “You don’t know what it means to me / To hear you sing the lyrics almost perfectly out loud.”
A highlight of the show was the handful of unreleased songs performed.
“We are currently sitting on a mountain of unreleased music,” Goldberg said before the band jumped into three new tracks.
With only the band knowing the songs, the silent crowd was able to fully take in the whimsical atmosphere The Army, The Navy created. Ciambriello and Goldberg’s smooth vocals were front and center, their voices blending perfectly to sound like one.
The unreleased songs the band played throughout the night were moments when the duo’s chemistry was most apparent. For example, a short a capella track Ciambriello and Goldberg wrote over text was sung with the lights down, their complementary harmonies backed only by the hum of the venue air conditioning.
They also played “Dirty Laundry,” a bass-heavy track dropping Friday. When the song reached the lyrics the band had been teasing on TikTok, some fans sung along as The Army, The Navy performed simple choreography with their hands.
From the balcony of The Atlantis, I could see fans hugging and swaying together during relationship-driven songs — from familial to platonic to romantic — like “Little Bug” and “Rascal.”
While The Army, The Navy’s discography is acoustic-heavy, louder songs like “40%” had fans jumping along as Ciambriello and Goldberg gave it their all. When it came to the song’s last chorus, instead of the usual key change that occurs with the lyrics “Say my name, say it again,” the duo transitioned to a mashup of Destiny Child’s “Say My Name,” making for a silly and memorable moment of the night.
The Army, The Navy at The Atlantis via Instagram.
As the band moved to the last chunk of their set featuring songs from their first EP, Fruit For Flies, Goldberg reminisced on playing The Atlantis eight months ago when opening for Paris Paloma. She shared the surreal feeling of now headlining a sold out show at the venue, which she said was the biggest crowd they’ve ever played for.
The pair was visibly moved by the size of the crowd as they sang “Alexandra,” which Goldberg said was the first song they wrote after moving to Los Angeles and having very little clue what they were doing.
With only a couple songs left in The Army, The Navy’s set, the loudest moment of the night came during “Persimmon,” when the audience screamed along to the lyrics, “So f*ck that b*tch in your story / And f*ck me after I guess,” luring smiles from Ciambriello and Goldberg.
“Vienna (In Memoriam)” was the second to last song of the evening, which Goldberg explained was about a baby rat they named Vienna Sausage peskily living in their New Orleans home that their cat killed. Despite the somewhat comical backstory, the two-minute track is angelic and ethereal and was made even more so by the duo’s connection to the crowd through gently pointing to and sharing smiles with fans.
The band closed the night with “Wild Again,” an upbeat track that Ciambriello said is usually about California, but was dedicated to Washington for the night, demonstrated by changing the lyrics “Santa Rosa, California / I feel better when I see it ahead,” to “Washington, D.C. / I feel better when I see it ahead.” The song was a heartfelt one to end on, with Ciambriello and Goldberg singing “It feels like coming back to you” along with the crowd before exiting the stage.
For a guaranteed night of exquisite music with soothing melodies, you can catch The Army, The Navy on the rest of their 26-stop tour in North America and the United Kingdom, though few concerts are not already sold out.