September 18, 1997
Luna play a mean tune-a

Luna are a band so bent on locating the perfect pop song, they'll hold on to it for an entire show once they find it.

That certainly made for a pleasant listening experience when the New York-based quartet held court for 600 fans at the Opera House Tuesday.

But, as with any band that sets itself on cruise control, pleasant didn't always mean dynamic.

Led by New Zealand-born, Harvard-educated singer-guitarist Dean Wareham -- a man who makes cool, polite detachment seem naturally rock 'n' roll -- Luna tapped into the happy medium between grooving guitar jams and crisp, catchy melodies.

Not an easy task, especially considering the band's studied efforts to stay extremely calm throughout. No silly stage moves and lead guitar face-pulling from this bunch.

Instead, Wareham traded lead and rhythm guitar duties with axeman Sean Eden, making sure the hooks never got dull.

Bassist Justin Harwood -- ex of acclaimed Kiwi band The Chills -- held down a solid bottom end with new drummer Lee Wall.

Wareham did up the rock ante with punchy numbers like IHOP, from Luna's coolly-received fourth album Pup Tent.

For holdover fans of the singer's old band, influential "sadcore" groundbreakers Galaxie 500, this must have been a musical double espresso. (Galaxie 500's tunes were once aptly described as sounding like the third Velvet Underground album being played at 16 r.p.m. Luna sounds like that album being played at 33, if you catch my drift.)

Still, Luna's new material rarely stood up to crowd favorites Slash Your Tires, Tiger Lily, California, and encore song Indian Summer -- from previous albums Lunapark, Bewitched and Penthouse.

Opening trio Snowpony received a mixed reaction from the crowd.

Like Luna, they're a sort of alt.supergroup: Bassist Debbie Googe is an alumna of My Bloody Valentine, while singer Katharine Gifford used to play with Stereolab.

The result sounded like a cut-back combo of both, sans the lustre and charm.

The powerful rhythm section of Googe and drummer Max Corrado -- plus an onslaught of samples -- did lift Snowpony out of the doldrums long enough to breathe.

Snowpony's debut album comes out on Universal this fall.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5