Review by Steve Gisselbrecht

Tonight is a powerful beginning for Scamper's five-Wednesday Abbey residency, and they have lined up a pretty astonishing bill of bills. Starting everything off is Furvis, who look young. Very, very young. They are a four-piece with a mild jangle-pop sound, nicely set off by the lead singer's lazy delivery. He has a weird, relaxed tone that reminds me of The Elevator Drops, and Jeff Robbins from Orbit. The rest of the band sing sweet ooh-ooh harmonies that help to shore up the pretty side of the equation. Instrumentally, they're just a little bit sloppy, but they are really young.

Valhalla Kittens have been on hiatus from live performance for rather a long time, and I've been jonesing for a show from them. The first thing that strikes me this evening is their outfits, mostly black and outrageous, and particularly Kitten Violet's Pretty In Pink-meets-A Clockwork Orange ensemble. So fabulous! Then they actually start playing, and it quickly becomes clear that we're being treated to some serious next-level stuff here. During their break from performing, they've really integrated the many disparate elements that make this band such an insane treat. The two guitars wrap their lines together until I can't pick them apart. The rhythm section make some of the weirdest stuff look and sound easy. And the Kittens! They have fused their voices into one perfect harmony machine, like some kind of Transformer monster of glittery pop love. This leads me right into their triptych, the first three songs of a freakadelic sci-fi rock opera in progress. The third song is debuting tonight; it doesn't have the obvious immediacy that some of their stuff has, so I'll need to hear it a few more times to digest it. Then we get the multi-orgasmic "Space Booty" (continuing something of a theme) and another new one, before the surprise ending: they tease their raucous, crowd-pleasing cover of "Sonic Reducer" before veering off into a T Rex cover instead.

Now, if you're going to have some sort of technical disaster at your residency, it's probably best to just get it out of the way quickly. So Scamper's kick drum pedal explodes on the downbeat of their very first song. This is quickly sorted, and hopefully whatever gods govern capricious musical equipment are now propitiated, and the rest of the residency can proceed with minimal hitches. Tonight is my first time seeing them with their new bassist, and he's really a great addition to the band. He's got a lovely high voice, so their sugary sweet harmonies are even sweeter. He's also got a winning way with self-consciously dopey patter between songs, and he's willing to turn down after the first song when the bass swamps the guitars. Scamper's songs are freakishly catchy, confectionary gems, and with a thick and adoring crowd, it's an extreme feel-good set. I'm also pleased that the new songs are just ever so slightly more raw, with a bit more screaming, which I felt they could use.

Bringing tonight's poptastic overkill to a magnificent conclusion are The Halogens, who write lush, gorgeous songs and perform them with tasteful guitar fireworks and really heroic vocal polish. They, too, have some technical kinks at first--trouble getting the keyboard to sound, and no microphone for the bassist in the first couple of songs. But they have enough depth to their sound that they can be missing a few layers and still feel rich and majestic. Before one song, Jason graciously acknowledges certain similarities to a Scamper song, and points them out by launching into the chorus of "Wait, Wait" over the end of the song. (Half of Scamper, and several other audience members, jump onstage to join him at this point.) It really does fit nicely. The accumulated delays require the soundman to actually turn off the lights onstage to cut their set short, but they're then allowed to finish up with "the hit," without which I might not have consented to leave.