With roots-ish forms spreading like some mandolin-and-upright bass wildfire, it’s refreshing to find a band that doesn’t make an explicit play at regional identity. Rather, Boston’s Joy Kills Sorrow mixes the vocal and lyrical approach of Northeastern coffee shop folk with now-universal string-band instrumentation. It’s the tunes that abandon expected pop structures and go in a prog-like direction which makes Joy Kills Sorrow a standout in what has become a crowded field. With the combined timbres of string band instrumentation so inescapable in modern pop, it’s nice to see the mold broken a time or two – good work. $10-$12. April 6, 9 p.m. Double Door Inn, 1218 Charlottetowne Ave. 704-376-1446.
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2013.
