SXSW 2010: The Lovely Feathers, Soundcheck Stage, Austin

were a lovely surprise. One of the few bands to catch my ear as I wondered helplessly about downtown Austin, they achieve a fine balancing act in their performances.

Comprised of the typical rock set up, their songs build quietly, unlike the noisily overeager splashing about of their contemporaries, and the bands’ willingness to harmonize is a welcome change from a genre often livid with a fear of sounding like the Beatles. The Lovely Feathers do nothing of the sort, achieving something closer to those rare moments when drunk and happy groups of singing people manage to sound good, for like three seconds.

This band carries it through their set, ending their songs forcefully and abrupt, at the height of crescendo only to tear ass through the next. Certain to please when they play M for Montreal in their homeland this November, The Lovely Feathers are a group whose lack of pretension and fine musicianship beg for more volume, something only really satisfied by seeing them in person.