Tuesday, Sept. 21: Polka Dot Dot Dot

Northern

By Jason Baxter on September 16, 2010

While rustic Northwestern folk gilded with gorgeous multi-part harmonies is a type of music that may have already peaked in local and national popularity (what with the Fleet Foxes' recent meteoric ascension from Emerald City darlings to Saturday Night Live musical guests), it's also something that'll likely never grow tiresome, especially when properly executed. Olympia's Polka Dot Dot Dot is a trio of talented folkies with a winning take on old-timey musical stylings. Their arsenal of acoustic elements (guitar, banjo, harp, ukulele and clement vocals) coalesces in lovely - if not entirely unsurprising - ways, and their lyrics name-check everything from the Puget Sound to Calvino-esque "cities we built in our minds." It's a backwoods sensibility with academic pretensions, backed by familiar stomp-clap rhythms. Fans of the Cave Singers and Alela Diane should take notice. 

[Northern, with Hurray for the Riff Raff, Sam Doores and the Tumbleweeds, 8 p.m., all-ages, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]