I Was a King, May 28 @ The M Room

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I Was a King, May 28 @ The M Room

POSTED: Friday, May 29, 2009, 9:15 PM

Filed Under: Music Last Night

Uplifting and melancholy

Headlining ain't all it's cracked up to be. By the time Norwegian guitar-pop group I Was a King hit the stage at the M Room on Thursday, it was almost midnight. The healthy throng that turned out for the prior band, locals The Elevator Parade, had thinned to 20 people at best. Nevertheless the band delivered a respectable performance, full of guitar crunch and energetic drums.

I Was a King occupy a noteworthy spot in the current musical landscape; with their mix of Dinosaur Jr. and The Apples in Stereo, they come very close to willing the catchier end of '90s indie rock back into existence. On their new, sophomore self-titled album (The Control Group), the hooks come fast; most songs end satisfactorily around the two-minute mark. At the M-Room, the band tore through songs like 'Golden Years,' 'Make it Clear' and a closing cover of Guided by Voices' 'Your Name is Wild' with gusto and aplomb. Frontman Frode Str'mstads' look is a little bit Dwight Schrute, a little bit Billy Bob Thornton in A Simple Plan.

But there's always that one song; the song you came for. The title of 'Norman Bleik' is a hilariously nerdy Teenage Fanclub joke ' a reference to Fanclub member Norman Blake, who wrote their classic 'Neil Jung.' 'Norman Bleik' the song is a perfect slam of buoyant melody; uplifting and melancholy in an intangible way. It was the sixth song of I Was a King's set on Thursday. If I were them, I would add it nearer the end; this is a song they should be building to in their live show. Alternately, they could play the song over and over again for the whole set.

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