Lucid Culture

Acoustic shows by rockers usually suck. Miracle of miracles, the club had hired somebody to tune the piano here. And the sound was actually ok. Sinnis needed this, because this version of his ever-evolving “lounge band,” as he sarcastically called it, was especially terse and needed the amplification. With his new keyboardist and  the Anti-Dave from Vulgaras playing lead guitar, Sinnis and co. delivered potently spartan arrangements of a mix of songs from his band Ninth House as well as his more recent, country material. The lead guitar on the minor-key blues Injury Home was a minimal, perfect evocation of the song’s angst. With admirable restraint, they ran through tense, even suspenseful versions of the gorgeously swinging Nashville gothic tune When the Sun Bows to the Moon, a cover of Ghost Riders in the Sky - which succeeded in avoiding the ever-present camp factor -  and the quietly stomping Ninth House drunk-driving anthem Follow the Line.   Their only faux pas (if this in fact wasn’t part of their original game plan) was to do two songs with the chorus “waiting for the train,” back to back: a Sinnis original, and a beautiful, hauntingly jangling cover of a Sisters of Mercy song which closed the set.