Sunday, March 4: Coasting

The Midnight Sun

By Rev. Adam McKinney on February 29, 2012

Once again, I'm effortlessly won over by female vocals sweetly sung over gently acerbic instrumentation. Age and proximity to alternative rock in the early '90s cemented this association for me. Coasting very nicely fills up the Swiss cheese holes in my brain that lay dormant, wanting, waiting for a sound to come and occupy them. A band like Coasting is a skeleton key to the tummy-rubbing-doggy areas of my psyche, and I am powerless to resist it. This is not to take away any of the talent Coasting brings to the table. The band's ability to write concise, ear-wormy pop songs is quite profound. Coasting resembles, in some ways, the much buzzed about Seattle act Seapony, but the band brings a much appreciated, tougher edge to the party.

[The Midnight Sun, with the Hive Dwellers, Angelo Spencer et Les Haut Sommets, Ashley Erikkson, 8 p.m., all ages, $5, 113 N Columbia St, Olympia]