WashingtonPost.com

Saturday, May 12th
Spring is here, and Iota has a fine lineup of romantic, jangly season-appropriate music for you tonight. Kicking things off will be the debut of Julie Ocean (listen), a new indie-pop outfit featuring former members of Velocity Girl, the Saturday People, Severin and other bands from the heyday of the 7" single. A couple of bands celebrating the release of new albums will follow. David once described the Antiques (listen) as "the best moody British band from 1986 that's somehow making music in D.C. right now" and after a few listens to "Sewn with Stitches," the description holds. The meticulously crafted songs are full of drama, sometimes heavy on thick organ, other times with reverb-laden guitar. The songs on Lejeune's "For Club and Country" don't lack for drama either, from Sam Bishop's vocals to the grand, fleshed-out arrangements. This isn't simple, guitar-based indie rock; it's something bigger, and the quintet does a fine job pulling off the complicated sound.