Philadelphia Weekly

MUSIC

Greg Laswell

By Brian McManus

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted May. 18, 2010

Greg Laswell

Photo by PW Staff

California native Greg Laswell’s 2009 appropriately-titled EP of cover tunes, Covers, showcased the wide variety of influences that color his music: Echo & the Bunnymen, Kate Bush, Morphine, Mazzy Star and Kristin Hersh, to name a few. He’s also been known to pull out a pretty solid version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” at live shows with a straight face, turning what could be irony overkill into an earnest homage to an ‘80s pop icon. On new album Take A Bow—recorded in relative seclusion in an Arizona cabin—Laswell brings his own tunes to the fore, and they dazzle. Lead single “Take Everything” is packed full of Laswell’s signature traits—it’s wistful, yearning, bittersweet and reflective—and the rest of the album follows suit. This guy won’t stay in rooms as small as Tin Angel for much longer, as an already sold-out show Saturday indicates. Catch him when he’s back in town at the same venue again next week.

Wed., May 26

8:30pm

With Jimmy Gnecco + Brian Wright

Tin Angel

20 S. Second St.

215.928.0770

tinangel.com