CIVIL TWILIGHT PLAY THE BOWERY BALLROOM

With a slight South African accent and humbled shyness, lead singer and bassist/guitarist Civil Twilight’s Steven McKellar stepped up to the mic at Bowery Ballroom and seemed enamored to be playing the venue. The quartet, comprised of McKellar on (bass, vocals, occasional piano), his brother Andrew McKellar (guitar), Kevin Dailey (guitar, keys, bass, and backing vocals), and Richard Wouter (drums), ran through a set of mostly singles and some choice slices from their new, third album Story of an Immigrant, which came out last week.

Civil Twilight

Starting with one of their best tracks off of Story of an Immigrant, “When When” which comes across as a breezy Vampire Weekend meets Paul Simon’s solo material, and got everyone bouncing and smiling. Other highlights include another standout track from their new album “Oh Daniel” which even had a an audience members requesting/heckling before the song began. Steven McKellar took the request in stride and dedicated the song to the requester in a humorously sincere fashion. “Oh Daniel” got one of the biggest crowd reactions of the night.

Civil Twilight

However, the concert’s most successful and dramatic moment happened at the end of the set. Steven McKellar got off the guitar and behind the piano, and most of the band left the stage, minus Andrew McKellar who complemented his brother bowing his guitar. They played “Human” and lead, and this into the band’s biggest hit “Letters from the Sky.” Both songs were off their self titled debut album from 2007, with the latter being their “break out hit.” The lighting heightened the drama, and it’s easy to see why this song in particular recalls Coldplay or Radiohead at their most bombastic and melodically pleasing. The band left and then came back for their encore “Quiet in My Town” and it was an enjoyable way to spend a Wednesday night.