While we await its full-length debut, which will be coming out early next year via Black Rd Records, the quartet of Joy Riding sets up shop in an opening slot this evening at Underground Arts. The band stacks up casually relatable, episodic powerpop, the type that steadily gathers melodic steam and concentration. Then, those loose sensitive strings unite in an infectious, surprising, instrumental feat of strength, cruising as the trees race by. In support of their newly released album, Winter Lives, Matt Pond PA headlines, striking a hearth-crackling note as singer-songwriter sensibility deepens through the exploratory interlacing of vocal harmony and guiding orchestral instrumentation. The multifaceted musical settings of Austin’s Moving Panoramas are sandwiched in between, tying the familiarity of intimate melody, while shifting into the atmosphere. Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., 9pm, $17, 21+ (Photo by Tom Ryan) – Michael Colavita
