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Thanksgiving Arrived Early with +/-

Donning aprons emblazoned with the band’s logo, +/- took a mid-set hiatus and gamely staged an impromptu Thanksgiving feast, dishing out roast chicken, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce to eager fans Tuesday night at the Crocodile Cafe.

“In Japan they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so we’ve been eating a lot of sushi and seaweed stuff,” said singer/guitarist James Baluyut of the band’s recent two year stint overseas. “We’re gonna be in a Motel 6 somewhere on Thanksgiving this year.”

+/- not only fed their fans, but they played a tightly arranged show demonstrating the ability to gracefully emote and deliver winning rock tunes in equal measure. Strains of an old Big Band serenade set the stage as +/- launched into their show with the title track off their latest, Let’s Build a Fire. With an uncanny ability to manipulate the simplest of noises, they created sounds that cascaded off each another like the precise, detailed parts of a Rube Goldberg machine. Not a beat was missed, not a chord misplaced.

Despite the classically rainy Seattle weather, Baluyut and company were thankful for the generous turnout. “This is the one city in America that we don’t have to worry about when it rains,” Baluyut quipped. TIFFANY WAN / PHOTOS BY JULIA SALAMONIK

>> Listen to +/- on Napster

We asked: The band name +/- brings two opposite forces together. What polar opposites would you combine for a killer band name?