CD Release Party: The Evening Rig, Saturday at the Triple Rock

Download: The Evening Rig - "Playing House"
Download: The Evening Rig - "City Lights"

If there is one word to describe the sound of The Evening Rig, it's "Minneapolis". It's not due to the fact that the band says on its MySpace page that they "sound like what bands from Minneapolis typically sound like, but not that good." As you can hear from the MP3s posted above, The Evening Rig underestimate themselves.

It's because the quartet, who formed back in 2005 and consist of former members of The Cardinal Sin, April Epidemic and The Crush, don't necessarily reinvent the wheel in terms of updating the sound of seminal Minneapolis groups like The Replacements, Soul Asylum and The Jayhawks, but rather, they expertly adapt it.

Songs like "Playing House" are sung with the heart-on-your-sleeve, intensely hoarse vocals of Paul Westerberg and are driven by the propulsive guitars of Soul Asylum. But while "Playing House" aims for the rafters, "City Lights" is much more quiet and contemplative, like a rainy Friday afternoon. Guitars shimmer and vocals croon in a very pleasing and affirming way.

The Evening Rig will release their debut album, Never Been'er, on Tuesday via Heart Of A Champion records. The band will promote said album with two shows tomorrow night, the 20th. The first show is at Treehouse Records at 4 p.m. and the second show will be a 21+ gig at the Triple Rock. The T-Rock show starts at 9 p.m.

MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)