Safe Boating Is No Accident, Friday, September 3, at the hi-dive

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If Ahab had lived to write a memoir, its title might have been the inspiration for the name of this band. Just the same, Safe Boating Is No Accident's lyrics aren't as overtly tempestuous as hunting for the great white whale on the Pequod. Even though the outfit's sonics are clearly inspired by old-timey music, there is clearly no attempt to adhere to the sensibilities of another era. Rather, Leighton Peterson sounds like he's drawn from a decade of observing people around him and sometimes imagining the implications of a half-heard snippet of conversation. Akin to the Velvet Underground's self-titled record, Safe Boating's latest effort, Isn't It Fun? (slated for release this Friday, September 3, at the hi-dive), can be both delicate and forceful but is consistently compelling and bitingly witty. Literate but never stuffy, Safe Boating Is No Accident has detectable Americana leanings, but they're focused on the present. (Stop by Backbeatblog.com to read a full Q&A with Peterson.)