Saturday at the Black Cat: Jukebox the Ghost EP release party, Exit Clov, Le Loup. $10, 9 p.m.
Of the three local bands on the triple bill Saturday night at the Black Cat, Exit Clov seem to be everyone’s favorite local group. Le Loup seem to be the new kids getting the rave reviews and big turnouts. But with their first “real” release, GW-kids and Three Stars alums Jukebox the Ghost officially throw their hat in the ring.
It’s just a five song EP, but it’s a very good one. More pop than either of those groups – and maybe more than any band going in D.C. these days – they’ve let go a little of the post-punk that creeps into their live shows. “Good Day” kicks it off with a bright, toy piano figure, which gets doubled up by guitar for the verse, but the magic happens in the chorus. Lead singer Ben Thornewill crams a couple dozen words into each line, forming the hook around the rhythm in his delivery.
“Hold it In” – a song I’ve admired before in a live setting – is the other standout, Thornewill using the titular phrase to describe a variety of situations. The song’s also got three or four different faces, moving dynamically between tempos, while still working around one playful piano riff. This time, though, guitarist Tommy Siegel reveals a little more of his chops, condensing classic rock solos to seconds-long bursts between verses.
If it’s possible to do so, they’ve frontloaded a five song EP, putting their less immediate songs at the end. “Beady Eyes on the Horizon” is likeable in the way that it’s similarly hard to hate a Ben Folds song, while “Victoria” continues in the Folds vein, but with a livelier rhythm section and Beatlesque guitar licks. It’s hard to place “Matter of Time”, one of the catchiest, sunniest tracks, but with a funky, reggae-tinged breakdown and a solo right out of the Dickey Betts playbook.
A songwriter friend once described her new release as the result of a year of hard work, sweat, tears, but, ultimately, “just a bunch of pop songs.” There’s no doubt that Jukebox the Ghost’s debut EP involved all those things, and, yeah, it is just a collection of five pop songs. But they’re all quirky, ambitious, and energetic ones that deserve this consistently strong release.
