Overcasters

If you've been paying attention for the past several years, you know that scores of bands have been cultivating atmospheric pop music with sweeping melodic hooks. While most claim Joy Division as a predecessor, too many are diluted third-rate Radiohead clones. It might seem foolish for Overcasters (due at the Falcon this Friday, April 11) to tread such well-worn ground — but instead of trying to emulate their heroes or aping the latest trend, the group's members are focused on what they want to do with their music and the way they want it to feel. In the textured guitar sparkle and roil, you can hear hints of Will Sergeant's arresting tones, the House of Love's impeccable sense of phrasing and Catherine Wheel's swirling exorcisms, while the sinuous and forceful rhythm section accents and directs the music. The vocals are plaintive — not from desperation, but out of a conviction that life and music are much more than cheap commodities and that love, in the larger sense, is what keeps our fragile world going in the right direction.