Last night’s Nada Surf show at the Black Cat served to kick off a tour in support of their new album The Weight Is A Gift. The sizable crowd was treated to a mix of songs from the new album and its predecessor Let Go during the course of a show that didn’t disappoint — but didn’t thrill, either.

The evening began with an acoustic set from D.C.’s own Army of Me — or half of them, anyway. Vocalist Vince Scheuerman and guitarist Brad Tursi took the stage around 8:45. DCist had seen a fully assembled AoM perform once before in a good but unremarkable appearance on the same stage. Their performance last night was solid. The dual guitar approach suited the band well by highlighting pleasant guitar arrangements and the band’s strong vocal talents.

As good as the performance was, AoM’s songs were occasionally wanting. It’s not that the band can’t pen a hook — it’s that they write Coldplay songs with less cathartic bridges. Yeah, yeah, we know that it’s been cool to hate on Coldplay ever since they started showing up on stations with “MIX” in their names. But we honestly don’t mean this observation as an insult (it’s just a backhanded compliment). The band nearly accomplishes the grand rock gestures it strives for, but occasionally cringeworthy lyrics (“Watch For Snakes”) and simplistic choral melodies (“Going Through Changes”) frequently keep the material from completely succeeding.

Nevertheless, some of the Army Of Me’s songs are legitimately great — last night’s rendition of “How Long” seemed particularly strong. And with as much live talent as they have, AoM is quickly securing a place for themselves as one of the city’s most promising rock acts. We’ll be keeping an eye on them.