 "Photo: photo: courtesy of Nick Lyon")
Coming from ancient Greek, the word "paean" means "triumphal or grateful song"—and Fort Collins' Paean will bring a handful of them on its first proper LP. Fittingly titled Songs For Us To Sing, the album will be released Friday, April 30, at the Hi-Dive.
To be honest, the songs may be neither grateful nor triumphal, but they are good. Bearing the clear influence of Conor Oberst, Paean layers swirling effects over solid, acoustic guitar-based riffs and linear song structures. Even the vocals, wavering and a little off-key, sound like Oberst's, albeit a little less affected.
Sonically, the songs are consistent to the point of creating a lull, with the nebulous atmosphere and acoustic foundation present in pretty much every song—but it's a good shtick, and the songs often take surprising enough turns to keep it interesting.
Joining Paean will be local fixture Bad Weather California, a band that sometimes is a band, and other times is just frontman Chris Adolf. Whichever it turns out to be at this show, the two projects are a good fit; Adolf builds his songs, too, on that trusty acoustic guitar, kind of sounds like Oberst when he sings, and shows a pronounced fondness for lots of reverb in his arrangements.
Bad Weather is still coasting on last year's LP Young Punks, but Adolf has a pretty extensive back catalogue, and live, even if it's just Adolf and his guitar, it's worth it to see the man play. He's notoriously intense, and onstage that intensity gets channeled into the show. You'll seldom find a more magnetic performer. If you remember that old Looney Tunes conceit of how music can "tame the wild beast," Adolf has a way of mesmerizing even the most raucous crowd into sitting down (I've seen this happen even at grossly sticky-floored venues, which made me shudder) and singing along.
Whether there are triumphal and grateful songs or not, if you like solid-but-kind-of-psychedelic pop with hippie-ish undertones, this show will leave you feeling both.
Paean CD Release
7 p.m., April 30, Hi-Dive
www.myspace.com/paeanco
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