White Dress at Beauty Bar [Show Preview]

Eric Morales

White Dress w/ Naked Hearts, A Tiger Named Lovesick
Wednesday, December 8
Beauty Bar (7th St. at Red River)
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You would think that in 2010 blues music would be dead. For God’s sake, it’s been around since at least the 19th century, and it’s been picked over by countless musicians the world over. Yet here in Austin, the band White Dress is bringing the blues into the 21st century.

For all intents and purposes, White Dress’s singular calling card is guitarist/singer Arum Rae Valkonen. She’s a force of nature on the microphone with a singing style that’s equally sinister and inviting. Using a bluesy template as the jumping-point, the songs unfold like smoky dirges with occasional splashes of psychedelia. Suffice it to say, it’s immensely fun to turn up and drop out. White Dress have only released a handful of songs, but the band’s marriage of old and new should keep them around well into the future.

Accompanying White Dress at the Beauty Bar tonight are New York’s Naked Hearts, who provide spiky post-punk to counteract the headliner’s grunginess. Like White Dress, they feature just two members but they make quite a racket all the same. Opening is Austin’s A Tiger Named Lovesick, who have solidified their lineup as well as their sound into a bittersweet blast of shoegaze noise and pop hooks.

White Dress: [myspace]
Naked Hearts: [myspace]
A Tiger Named Lovesick: [myspace]