So the Missouri boys from Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin brought their brand of breezy bedroom pop to Iowa City's very own Picador this past Friday, May 23. And, despite their considerably cumbersome band name, SSLYBY proved to be quite agile on stage. It's hard to say who was in charge of what. They had a guy on tambourine...sometimes. They had a lead singer/guitarist who sometimes was the harmonizing singer/bassist. They had a drummer who harmonizes that was occasionally the lead singer/guitarist. They had a harmonizing bassist who doubled as a drummer. And then they had a "regular" guitarist...he just played guitar. Confusing, but immensely entertaining nonetheless. As the band came on stage, they were greeted by a much less than full house (probably only 40-50 people there [c'mon Iowa City, get your shit together]). In spite of this, the band burned through a healthy mix of songs from both their debut, Broom, and their most recent release, Pershing, all of which sounded fuller and more energized live than they tend to on the records. I missed the first song, but, whatever it was, they followed it with Pershing highlight "Glue Girls," and hardly took a breath until closer "Oceanographer" (which, in spite of its mediocrity on the album, was pretty rousing live, complete with some insane cowbelling and a guitar stuck in the rafters. Seriously). Some of the other particularly strong live songs included "House Fire," "Think I Wanna Die," and "You Could Write A Book."
Admittedly, I was not a huge fan of SSLYBY when I went to this show. But I left the show with a new soft spot, reserved for the boys in Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin.
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