AMERICAN ANALOG SET
It used to be that the American Analog Set played only when the four members, all on-again, off-again college students from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, happened to be home at the same time. Now, with two albums, two singles, and an EP to their name, they’re all stationed in Austin, but their trippy pop still sounds like it might have been created in someone’s parents’ house over spring break; they even named their last LP (on Emperor Jones) From Our Living Room to Yours. Andrew Kenny croons like he’s trying not to wake a baby while his reverberant guitar lines delicately embroider Lisa Roschmann’s shimmering organ textures, and drummer Mark Smith handles his brushes like feather dusters–but his well-defined and varied rhythms ensure that the music’s studied restraint never makes it boring. The latest American Analog Set release, the EP Late One Sunday & the Following Morning (Darla), is obviously a studio confection, layering recitations, backward drum and keyboard loops, and stark guitar accents over Lee Gillespie’s steady bass pulse–but when the band played here last year it proved it doesn’t need a roomful of knobs and gadgets to thoroughly entrance a crowd. The Magnetic Fields headline Thursday, August 20, 9 PM, and next Friday, August 21, 10 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport; 773-525-2508. American Analog Set also plays next Friday at 7 PM at Reckless Records, 3157 N. Broadway; 773-404-5080. BILL MEYER
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): uncredited photo.