In this week's paper, Christian Schaeffer profiles Theodore, whose latest album, Hold You Like a Lover, was released via Moon Jaw Records this week. Schaeffer caught the band at a house party:
To understand Theodore is to see the band in action. For this song, J.J. Hamon replaces his guitar with a harmonica; he runs it through a maze of effects pedals, which turn its reedy tone into pinging sonar distress signals. Andy Lashier curves his body into the frame of his upright bass, while drummer Jason Torbitzky fights the desire to kick the turgid, intensifying song into overdrive. At the center of the improvised stage, singer and guitarist Justin Kinkel-Schuster turns from folk troubadour to punk-rock preacher, delivering the song's ominous, entrancing refrain from somewhere deep and dark: "Death's head next to you all night long/Will hold you like a lover till the morning comes."
Read the rest of the feature here. Snag an MP3 of that song below -- and see it live this Saturday, February 13, at Off Broadway. Tickets for those over 21 are $10; anyone under 21, $13.
