Named after a scientific discovery, The Van Allen Belt are doing their part to tear down and rebuild. Their recent LP, Heaven on a Branch, is a sly study in mixing and matching. The ways they play with sounds and expectations is sometimes so subtle that you find yourself waking from a trance at a song's end and wondering what route you took to get your head where it's arrived. A big part of the band's success comes down to lead singer Tamar Kamin's effortlessly soulful voice, which handily weathers the storm of mastermind Benjamin Ferris' gently forceful experimentation.

Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on The Van Allen Belt in the Music and Culture section.

THE VAN ALLEN BELT, w/ Anna Gordon, Swoon, Beatrix Sky, 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 17, Northern, 414 ½ E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, $5