Lucid Culture

A triumphantly invigorating show. It’s always a good sign if a band’s newest songs are their best, which was the case with the Larch tonight, playing the cd release show for their new one Gravity Rocks at Arlene’s. The  most obvious comparison to this long-running Brooklyn band is Squeeze. Even though the two groups don’t have much in common musically – rather than the Beatles, the Larch mine a frequently quirky, early 80s vein, as much Robyn Hitchcock as Elvis Costello - they share a subtle sense of humor. And Larch frontman Ian Roure’s guitar leads are every bit as sizzling as Glenn Tilbrook’s used to be and reputedly still are. Roure made the crowd wait for them – he took all of three all night long, but he made them count. The title track from the new cd, an instrumental, was punctuated by one of them. Their songs are sophisticated yet often ridiculously catchy, such as the brand-new, self-explanatory Cellphone or Schizo and Return of the Chimera, a typically tongue-in-cheek number about genetic engineering, both of which they played tonight.

The evening’s best numbers were a yet unreleased number, Strawberry Coast, with its darkly incisive, minor-key, tango-inflected central hook, and another potently hook-driven number, Accidental Planet, from the new album. Keyboardist Liza Garelik (who also plays with Roure in another rousing, often fiery band, Liza and the WonderWheels) told the crowd how one of the Larch’s songs had become one of the demos that come standard with one manufacturer’s ipod, and how besieged with fan email Roure had become as a result. Ross Bonnadonna’s bass playing was muscular and inventive (a dexterously bluesy lead guitarist and longtime denizen of the Freddy’s Bar scene, he also plays in Paula Carino’s band, whatever their name happens to be this week).

At the end of tonight’s surprisingly short set, the crowd insisted on an encore and the band obliged, Roure finally cutting loose with one of his signature long, screaming, lightning-fast wah-wah solos. Good things are happening with this band, with a couple of recent UK tours and all that fan email. Watch this space.