Orpheum Bell

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seem to curl upward into the shadows of a dimly lit room. This is one of those bands that like to make up their own press quotes, and it describes itself thus: "Some kind of von Trapp Family pounding out raw country and Gypsy waltzes at the last bar on the outskirts of town."

Vocalist Aaron Klein, who also writes most of the group's slightly mysterious songs, takes his inspiration from Tom Waits, one of the surprising number of fifty-somethings who seem to be influencing a lot of twenty-somethings these days. But he draws on the quieter Tom Waits of the Junkyard Orchestra rather than the roaring rhythm and blues. His words weave in and out of a collection of instruments that may include, as needed, accordion, banjo, guitar, fiddle, clarinet, saw, and Autoharp, along with percussion and bass. There's a shimmering, flickering effect to the whole that draws you in by turning down the temperature rather than heating things up.