This Little Underground

Although they’re from across the pond, we’re lucky enough to have them play our city twice this year. It’s great that they came back so soon during their breakout year, and as a headliner this time. Since February, when they played Back Booth supporting Smith Westerns, more people are hip to them now. This was not a watch-from-the-edges crowd. They knew how special this band is. And that’s a good thing. Hopefully, Yuck knows, too, that there’s a warm, budding audience for them here. Let us be on pace with this band’s rising star.

Opener Porcelain Raft, also London-based, is the one-man vehicle of Mauro Remiddi. His sparkling but yearningly moody indie pop is capable of enormous beauty,so much so that I wish he’d cool it a little with the thumping electronic beats because they sometimes obscure his exceptional emotional range. If it was rendered by a full live band, that might be different. But even despite the prominent electronic beats, his vocal expression is notably warm and stirring.

> Email Bao Le-Huu