The Broken West

Back in 2007, L.A.’s The Broken West seemed to make a point of stopping through D.C. on a weekly basis. In the space of a few months, they opened for The Walkmen, The Long Winters, and shared a bill with The Whigs. Each time I caught them they were pretty good — never great — but didn’t quite live up to the tried-and-true California power pop of their proper debut, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On. Their latest, Now or Heaven, is a little more done-up, with more blips and beeps and an altogether denser atmosphere.

Live though, they’re the same old power pop crew, and there’s still something missing. Last night’s opener, “Gwen, Now and Then”, is a nice song full of resignation and a little bitterness that unsurprisingly borrows heavily from The Smiths. New tune “Auctioneer” broke the predictability with a big organ solo, and “Smartest Man Alive” threw a cutesy indie pop bass part into the mix. Yet none of them packed much of a punch, and whether you blame the foggy sound, the lack of variety in song structure, or the band themselves, it’s still a problem they’ve had each time I’ve seen them.