Burlington is in for a storm tonight. Locals Clever Girls will be joined at the Showcase Lounge of Higher Ground by fellow New Englanders Weakened Friends from Portland, Maine, who are currently touring with NYC’s Nervous Dater. This tour de force of ferocious indie rock is sure to melt a few faces and maybe even leave a few tearing up, given the fact that Clever Girls have the uncanny ability to shred while simultaneously dance delicately around broken hearts with lyrics like "I will bite my tongue, I won’t think out loud / about how dumb I always get when I see you smile" (from "Dumb Smile.") They don’t attempt to be overly clever or tongue-in-cheek or didactic about subjects like love or self-doubt. Their debut LP Luck (streaming below) shows the band isn’t afraid to shoot in the dark; maybe they even prefer it that way, letting the goosebumps guide them as they fumble around, seeing what creates a spark. From the look of this album, it seems that they’ve figured out the formula for finding what’s real and drowning out the rest. – Lilly Milman, photo by Hannah Blauner
