Critic's Choice

According to Shane Ewegen -- a highly sarcastic source if there ever was one -- bandmate Nick Moses is a theoretical physicist who has "dedicated the last fifteen years to research into the possibility of building a perpetual-motion machine." And although that's total bullshit, the members of The Fifth Utility...

By Jason Heller

April 7, 2005

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According to Shane Ewegen -- a highly sarcastic source if there ever was one -- bandmate Nick Moses is a theoretical physicist who has "dedicated the last fifteen years to research into the possibility of building a perpetual-motion machine." And although that's total bullshit, the members of The Fifth Utility do have some ambitious plans after their breakup this week. Pete Moses is moving to New York to pursue a solo career, Nick Smalkowski is returning to Chicago to fish around for a new band, and Ewegen is headed to Boston as a graduate philosophy student. The quartet's dissolution couldn't have come at a lamer time; its sophomore release, last year's Ultra Nylon Life of Ease, was a stunning exercise in atmospheric, Radiohead-tuned rock, and its local fan base has never been stronger. Ewegen and crew will bid weepy adieus to its followers at two farewell performances this weekend -- on Friday, April 8, at the hi-dive, and at an all-ages sendoff on Saturday, April 9, at the Bluebird Theater. The shows will no doubt be intense, explosive affairs; it's just a tragedy that Moses's perpetual-motion machine couldn't have been the Fifth Utility itself.

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