Ask a math nerd to describe a mobius band, and your answer might sound something like “a one-sided non-orientable surface.” Ask a music nerd to describe Mobius Band, and you’ll probably hear an even more awkward hyphenate, like “electro-pop-rock.” Or, in more common parlance: “Like the Postal Service, but more rock and less emo.”
Formed by a trio of music majors at Wesleyan University, Mobius Band spent four years playing keg parties before holing up together in middle-of-nowhere Western Mass., adding keyboards and a sampler to the standard guitar-bass-drums rock band formula. The Loving Sounds of Static, their debut LP (out today on Ghostly) is a coming-of-age story told with a welcome amount of critical distance, rather than being ripped from the pages on yesterday’s journal entries. (The first track is called, fittingly, “Detach.”) And while their song structures usually take a while to unfold, the complexity doesn’t undercut the catchiness of the pop hooks. “I Just Turned 18” (“I live on mac and cheese, Ruffles and Doritos”) is wryly hilarious; “Twilight” (“My friends tell me I’m a fool / But I just work here I don’t make the rules”) is a fitting anthem for anyone who’s worked a crap job.
But beyond the bleeps and blips, Mobius Band doesn’t have a lot in common with Ben Gibbard’s inescapable little side project. Mobius Band doesn’t make music to make out to, or dance to, or slit your wrists to. And that’s a good thing.
Mobius Band tour dates:
9/6, Cambridge, MA (TT the Bears) 9/19, Seattle, WA (Showbox)9/20, Portland, OR (Aladdin Theatre)9/21, San Francisco, CA (Great American Music Hall)9/22, Los Angeles, CA (House of Blues)9/24, San Diego, CA (Belly Up)9/25, Phoenix, AZ (Marquee Theatre)9/26, Phoenix, AZ (Sunshine Theatre)9/27, Dallas, TX (Granda Theatre)9/28, Memphis, TN (Hi-Tone)9/29, Nashville, TN (Exit Inn)10/1, Bloomington, IN (Bluebird Nightclub)
Link:Mobius Band official site
Listen to this band and each week’s SPIN.com Bands of the Day on the SPINsider Podcast! For more about the SPINsider, visit spin.com/podcast or click here to launch iTunes.
