Night Moves

Night Moves new album, Can You Really Find Me, pulsates and glows with the same sublime energy that radiated from breakout single Carl Sagan in 2016, however in the intervening years, John Pelant and Micky Alfano have grown up. The songwriting, while still steeped in super-catchy, velvety riffs and pure pop glaze, feels more sophisticated and modern. Since the pair met in high school, awestruck by such ear-candy wizards as Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, they set off to craft their version of what sophisticated, emotional modern pop music can and should sound like. 2016s Pennied Days was a breakthrough, and set a new bar for the members of Night Moves. After spending the subsequent two years on Can You Really Find Me, theyve scaled new heights, where the sounds are still just as sweet, but now smarter, more evocative, and perfectly designed for a summer release. So how did something that feels so warm and breezy like the perfect summer soundtrack - emerge from the dead of a bleak and frigid Minneapolis winter? Pelant and Alfano sequestered themselves, dreaming their way out of the cold by writing songs like Coconut Grove, a whirly psychedelic love song, and Ribboned Skies, a blazing ode to guitars and syncopation. Minneapolis has always played a part in the creative process for these dyed-in-the-wool locals. Long heralded as local hot shots in the cold, desolate, land of Prince, Westerberg and Dylan, John and Micky have still never stopped working the grind; in donut shops, bakeries and restaurants, toiling to make ends meet yet trying find beauty in the mundanity, and in the tranquil midnights. In the grab bag of modern pop genres, from neo-psychedelia to shoe-gaze, ambient pop to cosmic country, Night Moves dream big on Can You Really Find Me and deliver a genuinely sparkling set that corrals all of these styles into one cohesive collection. Opening the show will be Dylan LeBlanc in a Special Solo Acoustic Set. LeBlanc is engaging and soft-spoken in person, yet his striking new album Renegade reflects the power of his live show one that he simply describes as rock n roll. While the album was recorded in just 10 days and tracked in three, the intensity of the project marks the culmination of more than a decade on the road. I like the idea of a renegade -- branching off from society or from the structure of the way our world is designed, he says of Renegade, his first album for ATO Records. It felt right to call it that. I wanted to write about the crueler, nasty aspects of the world and life.LeBlanc considers the new album a departure from his past work, but only because theres more of an edge to these sessions, recorded with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb in Nashvilles Studio A. This time around, LeBlanc primarily stayed plugged in for the sessions, giving Renegade a Tom Petty feel, charged with a streak of 80s rock. I never really played electric guitar live in the studio like that, he says. Im so used to the rhythmic, acoustic thing. It was just like playing in a show.