Yours, Mine and Ours," the new Pernice Brothers album, is the least fussy of the band's career, mostly forgoing the string arrangements of their two previous discs, but live shows like the one they played at Iota on Saturday night remain the setting in which the real unadorned heart of the group beats most audibly. And that sterling performance revealed that a wistful and ringing guitar pop is the Massachusetts outfit's most vital organ.
It was brother Joe Pernice who commanded the spotlight, singing and playing his gorgeously lachrymose compositions while a quartet of players chimed around him with visions of Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys dancing in their heads. Pernice infused such new songs as "Baby in Two" and "Water Ban" with considerably more verve than their recorded versions contain and paired them with older standouts like "Monkey Suit" and "The Ballad of Bjorn Borg," sending out bursts of tingling melancholy pop over the packed crowd.
Pernice returned for a encore and performed a song (with an title unfit for a family newspaper) that he wrote for his previous band, the Scud Mountain Boys, but it was clear that when the rest of band joined him for several more songs -- including a fine take on the Pretenders' "Talk of the Town" -- that his art is far more fully formed now. And Saturday's show, which brimmed with masterly songcraft, felt like the work of an artist looking down from a glowing creative peak.
Originally posted by mankie:
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Who is this band Black Eyes?
I thought Norah Jones and the Pernice Brothers were the two big shows Saturday night...
Who is this band Pernice Brothers? [/b]
