Relax, It’s Science at The Barley Street Tavern, Nov. 12, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Saturday night was the first time I’ve been to a show in nearly a month. I have no explanation for my absence other than: 1) I’d seen the bands before; 2) I had to be at work early the following morning, or 3) I’m getting old. I’ll buy reasons 1 and 2 and never reason 3.

Somehow I dragged my tired old bones to The Barley Street Tavern Saturday night so see Jeremy Stanosheck’s band Relax, It’s Science, a band that, yes, I’ve seen before, and I’m hear to report they were as good as last time. Two basses and a drummer could be a confining combination, but Jeremy and Co. found a way to make it work on their sometimes droning two-chord prog songs. Some might find their lack of variation within compositions monotonous, but its hard to not be drawn in (especially when you’re standing eight feet from the stage).

It was when the band reached beyond their formula that things really got interesting, specifically on their final song, a composition titled “9-11, What a Bummer.” Here the trio played with more dynamics and variations — dipped and soared — climaxing with a rush, like a falling building. Jeremy tells me “9-11…” is an older song (in fact it appears on their debut EP); to me, it still points in a promising direction.

I intend to make up for missing all those shows the last few weeks by killing myself this week with shows. Or at least going out tonight.

As I wrote yesterday, tonight Jeffrey Lewis and Los Bolts graces the Reverb stage. If you’re into smart, topical, story-telling-style urban folk, look no further. Jeffrey made some waves a few weeks ago with a video asking people to vote for Hillary. It’ll be interesting to see what he has to sing about the outcome of the election. He said in the interview he’ll be trying out some new material, and his recent album, Manhattan (2015, Rough Trade), is pretty awesome. And David Nance opens. What more do you want for $8? Starts at 9.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.