Son Ambulance

Son Ambulance is the brainchild of one-time Bright Eyes sideman Joe Knapp, who employs similar melancholic, electro-beat backdrops in his own somber tunes, but has begun to distinguish himself from his more-famous Omaha, Neb., collaborator. Soft-strummed songs like “Horizons,” off the group's latest album, Someone Else's Déjà Vu, touch on wistful, Shins-fashioned indie-pop, avoiding the emotional catharsis of vintage Conor Oberst. Plenty of Saddle Creek mainstays lent a hand to the record, including members of The Faint and Tilly and the Wall, and ubiquitous producer Mike Mogis. Son Ambulance headlines a 9 p.m. show at the Cactus Club tonight with Matador Records singer-songwriter Jennifer O'Connor.