Bird Streets
Dressed dapperly and sipping hot tea during his band’s soundcheck Thursday night at the Cactus Club, John Brodeur eased into Bird Streets’ performance calmly and confidently. Despite whatever he lacks in roiling, rock ’n’ roll intensity, Brodeur’s music still stirs because of his lovely voice and playful lyrics, like those on “Carry Me,” a power-pop nugget that borrows from gospel music and offers to raise a toast to “new beginnings and bitter ends.”
“Betting on the Sun,” meanwhile, describes a friendship that was “tighter than Steely Dan,” and the sad insight that there’s a “fine line between living and just getting by.” “Thanks for Calling” (“Every time the phone rings I get a chill/It could be you”) is a perfect fit for an indie romance movie montage.
Brodeur released his debut as Bird Streets in August on Omnivore. The album is a collaboration with acclaimed popper Jason Faulkner of Jellyfish and Three O’Clock fame, and many of the songs were born in a Los Angeles studio.
Nonetheless, Brodeur and his touring band, especially guitarist Lisa Bianco, conveyed the songs live with vigor, even if Brodeur did playfully knock the bassist for starting on the wrong song briefly, introducing him as “the anxious bassist.” Brodeur’s clear, appealing voice commanded the small room, and the quality of the songs easily were repeatedly revealed.
Brodeur saluted the opening acts, Cabin Essence and Daydream Retrievers, for helping to “keep pop alive,” and both bands certainly delivered on that mission. Cabin Essence, which has a similar dynamic as Bird Streets, began the night. A studio solo project for Nick Maas that live features bassist Terry Hackbarth and drummer John Wythes, the band especially shined on a pair of new songs that Maas introduced as the A- and B-sides of an upcoming single they will release next year. The songs showed the different flavors of the band’s appeal: One a gentle, keyboard-driven tune that showcases Maas’ own strong vocals; and the flip, a loud, delightfully crunchy pop song.
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Led by Ian Olvera, the four-piece Daydream Retrievers were fun and funny, rolling through catchy rockers like “Cars Can’t Stop” (“Let’s get out of the city/We’ll be buried alive”), slow burners like “Tuesday Night in America,” the soulful “Right is Right” and even a Bar-Band-Gold cover of NRBQ’s perfect “I Want You Bad.”
