Girls

There's nothing remotely new about Girls, the brainchild of San Francisco-based songwriter Christopher Owens. But what the band brings is in short supply today: tender but not affected pop music with strong overtones of classic songcraft — Elvis Costello and Jarvis Cocker surely rank highly in Owens's personal pantheon — and a pillowy atmosphere that's not afraid to erupt into fusillades of sheer majesty. It all pivots around Owens's voice, a velvety mumble that's as shaky as it is sure, one that's not afraid to leak the kind of syrupy gravitas that would have made Phil Spector put down the gun and start drooling. Girls' 2009 debut, Album, caused quite a frantic buzz around the blogosphere, but don't let that keep you from the band's Bluebird show.