I saw Girls & Boys play a special show last night at the Springwater. With their drummer having departed to rock with Jetpack, they did an acoustic set with only the girls and Ben — their songwriter/bass player — playing acoustic guitar with them. Despite all the warning signs — acoustic show, Springwater, 11 song set, Springwater — it was really great. With the music stripped away like that, the vocals really shone. “Sunday Morning” — which is such a downer to me when it appears in the middle of a rocking set — was perfect in this setting. They even debuted a new song “My Old Man” on which Ben sang lead to close the set. That is a keeper.

Plyed by free beer and good company, I stuck around for Those Transatlantics. They were really impressive. Sort of like an American Cardigans back in the poppy stage of their career. Those Transatlantics play with tons of cool keyboard and guitar sounds but never let the sounds overrun the song. Everything was short and hooky. If I’d had any spare bucks, I’d have picked up their record. I hope they’ll come through town again soon. Very enjoyable.