Kick Out the Jams: Pedro the Lion at the House of Blues, Aug. 6

Ah, summer--the season when young indie-rock kid fancy turns to indie-rock kid love. Arm-in-arm, the young lovers at the House of Blues gazed blissfully into one another's eyes, heads keeping time with the music of Pedro the Lion. The emotional weight of the songs seemed perfectly suited to the evening.

For some time now, uncool has been the new cool. Maybe not uncool exactly, but differently, preferably obscurely concerned. David Bazan and Tim Walsh, the creative minds behind Pedro the Lion, may be uncool, but they are uncool in the way fellow Northwesterners Doug Martsch and Built to Spill are uncool. Bazan and Walsh, along with touring bass player Ken Moiuri, don't look much like rock stars (Moiuri could be your old high school anatomy teacher). But that's even better. With so many bands focusing on looking like musicians, it is a welcome change when bands care more for the performance than a particular look.

On Friday night, Pedro the Lion let the music speak for itself. And it was a good thing, too, because Bazan seemed particularly reserved. Near the midpoint, the barefooted singer/guitarist began soliciting questions from the audience and the giddier indie-rock kids seemed enamored with the thought that a "rock star" cares. After touching on the importance of voter registration for the upcoming elections, Bazan and the band quickly returned to business, drawing from their entire career, not simply from the recently released Achilles Heel. Over 90 minutes, there were many pleasant moments, from the sweet clichés of "Foregone Conclusions" to the cover of Radiohead's "Let Down." And though Bazan may not have Thom Yorke's vocal range, the results were more than satisfying. I would not have been surprised had the set ended with the tribute.

I paid particular attention to the crowd itself as Bazan led his bandmates through the final two songs. The young lovers still stood arm-in-arm. And all the rest stood equally entranced. The music and lights washed across the beatific faces in search of answers, if only for one night. And Pedro the Lion had the answers, if only for one night. Perhaps these are some of the components of the spiritual (not Christian) rocker albatross Bazan knows to embrace.--Carey Murphy