I never noticed, but Sunday is hard day to play because everyone is exhausted. Questions to the crowd, like “How are you guys?” are met with lukewarm exhalations of air. The joint was buried under fatigue and quiet. Into this stepped blog buzz-meisters and Maryland folksters Page France to set up shop at the Galaxy Hut last night. And boy did they set up, with an abundance of instruments that would give a few choirs a run for their money.

So after the glockenspiel was mic’ed correctly, they set off with “Junkyard,” a literary love song wrapped in teenage myth. Michael Nau, singer, principal songwriter and all-around wunderkid, sounded very different from his nasally counterpart on their latest album Hello, Dear Wind. “Junkyard” set the tone for Page France’s performance, with the other instruments building around Nau’s vocals and acoustic guitar. When Page France deviated from this, it was always to great effect, such as the last minute of “Junkyard” when Nau’s voice suddenly became sandwiched between a buzzing keyboard and steady snare drumming.

What was jarring, especially on an aforementioned Sunday night, was energy of Nau’s vocals. So patient on the album, Nau would scream vocals and drop f-bombs in choruses, which worked and confused, respectively. Howling and face-contorted, he could rock out if he wasn’t busy attentively manning his acoustic guitar for the entire set. In a way, the rhythms that make the album great impede the live shows’ onslaught.

Three songs in, Page France hit a stride with “Dogs,” where the keyboards and lead guitars built crescendos and dropped off with Nau’s voice. The following songs, “Glue” and “Chariot,” switched out heavy guitars for the two female vocalists in the group. On “Glue,” the vocals harmonized beautifully over the bright chorus: “Praise to you/for giving/praise to me.” On “Chariot”, it became even sweeter as the seven members, mics be damned, yelled the chorus in an orchestrated chaos not unlike campfire songs.

Though the brainchild of Nau, France is at its best when you can hear the group effort; when their choruses and hooks push Nau’s vocal range higher, when the instruments all warble together.

With that being said, Page France could use a dollop of style to go along with their impressive substance. Their live show lacks energy, opting for the tranquility that pervades Hello, Dear Wind. You can see it on the album too: no yelling, no loud guitars, a lot of rhythm. While we like Page France just fine, we’d like to see them grow into a bigger, louder live show, both comforting and ecstatic. And at 21, Nau has got plenty of time to make that happen.

The opening act, These United States, also brought some great alt-country crooning. They’ve got three shows in the DC area over the next month and we recommend checking them out.