In Da Club: The Owls at the Kitty Cat

The Owls

Maria May of The Owls

Related Content

• Korda Records hits all the right notes
  January 9, 2013
• Local Frames: New videos from the Starfolk, Toki Wright, SMMNR, and more
  January 11, 2013
• Seven Inches of Minnesota Music: The Hang Ups, "Top of Morning"
  July 15, 2011
• Typsy Panthre release icy cold 'All Fall Down' video, talk about their upcoming LP
  July 12, 2011
• Jeremy Messersmith's 'Works for Words' at the Fitzgerald, 4/9/11
  April 11, 2011

More About

• Brian Tighe
• Maria May

Dovelike pop quartet the Owls was unjustly absent from this paper's best-local-2004-albums list. Let it be known that the omission wasn't deliberate and the mistake was mine. The Owls made some mistakes of their own during their opening set for Stephanie Says at the Kitty Cat Klub last Saturday. Most obviously, their passion for vernal pop harmonies can exceed their ability to execute them, at times to crippling effect. Several songs, however, came out on both feet, including Maria May's "Bury Your Mind" and Brian Tighe's "Channel," both new. After a set of sometimes precious, tea-sipping wispiness, the VU strum of "Channel" was a sort of tonic. Still, the Owls' delicacy is remarkably sincere, often lovely. On "Air," their slightly disheveled harmonies created a neat chorus effect. May gamely sang lead through a cold, her cracked delivery as forlorn as tears shed in a bus shelter, at 2:00 a.m. "Air" was further enhanced by Tighe's spongy bass playing, especially the song's upper-neck riff, of a type heard earlier on Queen's "Under Pressure." When playing a song called "Air," it's best to make it heavenly, and so they did.