Brighton, MA preview

Brighton, MA
Subterranean, Chicago
Friday, June 8, 2007

Rare was a time in 2004 when we didn’t preview a show on this Web site that wasn’t somehow connected to locals The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir. So ubiquitous were they in North Side clubs we considered not promoting shows they were opening. By headlining Subterranean on Friday, we hope Brighton, MA never put us in that position.

Brighton is a project by former Gospel Choirer Matthew Kerstein, who has named the new band after his home town. He left SYGC some two years ago and kicked around clubs under his own name before quickly putting this act together, mostly discarding his old mates’ Belle & Sebastian-isms but keeping his gruff, Strummer-meets-Springsteen howl (along with some fringe SYGC musicians).

Brighton’s debut EP on Loose Tooth fades in on the rearranged “Heroes” strength of “Bet You Never Thought” (a rebirth of Scotland’s “Bet You Never Thought It Would Be Like This”), pulling in touches as near as U2 and far as My Bloody Valentine. That severe, dynamic shift aside, they morph into Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue for “Good Kind Of Crazy” and “Ballad For Coolhand,” re-routing some power so it comes through indirectly and keeping the inital blast of “Bet” squarely in mind. From there Kerstein sees out the daylight on the sparse “Graceland ’02” before finishing off with moderate rocker “War Of The Roses” and the epic “Horseracing” (an ironic title for such a drawn-out track). Already, however, Brighton showcase more faces than the three heads of Scotland Yard once did combined, making his career move seem like the right decision.

Just space out the shows a little, O.K.?

Canasta and Mason Proper will open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click below to sample Brighton, MA.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly