Early Warnings (Music) Recommended Soundboard
Mawcrest, Guards, J Fernandez

When: Mon., Feb. 11, 9 p.m. 2013
Price: $10

If you’re marginally perceptive, you may have noticed that indie-pop band Guards walks and talks a lot like indie-pop band Cults—there’s the swaying melody of their 60s sound, their white-shirt-black-tie getups, and their punchy, one-word plural names. Turns out the connections go even deeper, though: Madeline Follin, front woman for Cults, is the sister of Richie Follin, front man for Guards. The colors certainly bleed between the two bands, but Guards have a little more funk and rock ’n’ roll in their step—the full-bodied, reverb-loaded hooks on their upcoming debut full-length, In Guards We Trust (Black Bell), would sound just lovely in a college radio station’s primo time slot or on an episode of Girls. “Ready to Go,” perhaps the album’s most arena-rocking song, has an undeniable group-shout chorus that’s as transcendent as indie-pop choruses ever really get, and the melodies on the rest of the album feel like nice warm blankets. Don’t expect another opportunity to see these guys in a venue this intimate. —Kevin Warwick Mawcrest headlines; Guards and J Fernandez open.