san francisco concert preview

san francisco weekly

by abigail clouseau
september 29, 2004

Heads are no doubt being scratched at the announcement that the Trashcan Sinatras are back with a new release (it's been 11 years since their last U.S. album, I've Seen Everything). The band blames its little disappearing act on the collapse of the label that put out its other records, and claims the new record, Weightlifting, got its title as a result of a lengthy plow through nasty music industry politics. Whatever real world agitation the Sinatras were confronted with, however, can't be heard anywhere on their latest. Instead, Weightlifting's 12 songs pick up where the band last left us: loungy soft-rock ditties lying somewhere between the psychedelic dawdling of Pink Floyd and the melancholy sighing of the Smiths, similar reference points to which bands like Travis and Coldplay look. But don't expect any pyrotechnics, just very catchy Scottish songwriting and midtempo, straightforward rhythms.

The Trashcan Sinatras return to San Francisco on Tuesday, Oct. 5, with Mellow Drunk and Roddy Hart opening at Slim's

Originally appeared in the San Francisco Weekly.