Know Them When: Ode

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 2, 2009 9:40PM

In keeping with our celebration of National Poetry Month, we're featuring a band called Ode. If you haven't had the chance to see this local group, go to Uncommon Ground on Devon tomorrow night and give them a shot.

We caught their March 18 show at Martyr's where they were the opening act, and it was proof that the order you go on is not necessarily an indication of quality. Their music has been called ork-pop and Balkan roots rock, but neither description adequately sums up their sound, which is full of dark, sweet melodies and tinges of influence from their native Bosnia, largely in the form of odd time signatures, minor keys, and crying accordion.

The instrumentation for most of their songs - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, piano, and drums - is a common combination, but it's all-too-often employed lazily, producing a boring muddle. Ode, however, produces thoughtful arrangements that alternate between distinct, interweaving parts and a thick wash of sound. Singer Davor Palos's resonant baritone spreads over it all, reaching to the back corners of the room.

The songs are tastefully written, full of graceful, often extended musical phrases that form solid and decidedly hummable compositions. A couple songs contained unfortunate exceptions to this otherwise careful songwriting, with the piano and guitars hammering eighth notes in an attempt to get to an idea they musicians clearly found more interesting, but those instances were outliers in otherwise succinct, polished tunes.

The most striking thing about their Martyr's show was their high energy level at all dynamics - particularly impressive given they performed for a room that could generously be described as uncrowded - and the energy was ratcheted up even further when they played a Bosnian folk song. To our ears, we wish they'd go further in this direction. They're a good rock band, but they're better when incorporating more of their Balkan heritage. The draw isn't the novelty of the folk music, though that's a factor; the music, and, more importantly, their performance of it, produces the sort of infectious fun that gets bodies moving.

Uncommon Ground, 1401 W. Devon, Friday, April 3 at 10:00 p.m., $10 suggested donation at the door