Spinto Band Adds Layers to Their Pop

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 20, 2008 6:40PM

We discovered The Spinto Band through a friend's single of the month club.Immediately we fell in love with the first tune we heard, the sweetly chiming shoulda-been feel-good hit of that summer, "Mandy." The group rode a mild wave of buzz for a while, some of it driven by just how ridiculously young the band was in contrast with how good their songwriting chops already were. And then they wisely dropped out of sight before the blog-buzz backlash could turn on them.

We've heard a few songs off the band's next album, Moonwink, and are pleased to see they still pack a pretty walloping pop punch. The production is a bit more intricate than it was on their last disc, and it's pretty obvious they had a bit of fun shaping the songs in the studio and throwing in a few gadgets here and there. The resulting gloss serves the melodic purposes of the songs, though, and never threatens to obscure the tunes' merits with too reflective a sonic sheen.

The band plays the first of a 2-night stand at Schubas tonight with the like-minded (if in our opinion a tad overstuffed) Tally Hall.

Schubas is located at 3159 N Southport. Tonight's show is at 9 p.m. and is 18+, tomorrow's show is at 7 p.m. and is all ages. Both nights are $12.

Photo courtesy The Spinto Band