The Crying Shame: band that defies comparisons

If you're tired of the same-old indie rock, had it up-to-here with music and lyrics that are as interchangeable as pecking pigeons, here's a band to check out: the Crying Shame.

Don't be afraid of the cello and violin, either. This band is neither pretentious nor pretty, instead blowing out varied, complex moods and an intoxicating, top-to-bottom sound.

With six skilled musicians creating fascinating music that has elements of country, folk, rock, classical and jazz, the Crying Shame has an epic, difficult-to-categorize vibe that would probably die on the vine, in many cities. Yet here in Seattle, where many music fans thirst for the uncommon, they just ripen.

Though on its MySpace page the Crying Shame lists as inspirations Lou Reed, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters and (surely as a joke) Justin Timberlake, and describes itself as "Beethoven broke down in Flagstaff," this band has a hard time defining itself.

"When people say, 'What kind of music do you play?' — I used to really care about that," singer-writer Arlan Lackie mused, at a band member's live-work studio in SODO. "At our shows, we used to try to play our country songs, and then our 'rock' songs, and then our 'folk' songs ...

"Then, we quit caring."

Still, it's so tempting to try to describe this band using established acts as a denominator.

Chamber pop Johnny Cash?

Morphine — but with cello and violin instead of a sax?

Or (to keep it local) how about a more aggressive Carissa's Wierd?

Ultimately, it's a losing battle. Like the Dead Science, Saeta, FCS North and a few other challenging Seattle bands, making easy comparisons to the Crying Shame is superficial, perhaps cheapening.

Sitting in on part of a Crying Shame practice, one thing you'll notice is how natural the songs feel; nothing fake, nothing trying-to-be something else. Lackie — he sounds like the National's Matt Berninger, probably because both are steeped in Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen — says the acid test for a new song (he's prolific) is whether it flows organically as soon as the band starts to tackle it. "If we start to fumble around, we just forget it."

The band's self-titled, debut CD from last year is diverse and vigorous. (You can listen to samples at www.thecryingshame.com or www.myspace.com/thecryingshame.) Yet a song like "Resurrection Day," as nice as it sounds on the disc, really snaps to existence with urgency when they play it live. This might be a young band that hasn't quite mastered the art of recording itself, but more likely is a young band that is evolving from week-to-week, adding nuances and agility with each performance.

Lackie and Dylan Rieck, the intense cellist who looks like he could break his instrument in two, started playing around Bellingham as a duo five years back. They often played with other musicians, but like a gigolo afraid to settle down, were wary of nailing down an "official" lineup.

That changed when they started jamming with guitarist Eric Woodruff and drummer Oliver Herrin — and both fit in perfectly. Then, at the University of Washington's music program, Rieck met talented violinist Teo Benson (he also plays with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra), and invited him to join the Crying Shame.

They were a five-piece, until Bradford Button — the soundman at Conor Byrne — heard them and convinced them they'd be better with a bass player: namely, him.

If you haven't heard the Crying Shame lately, it's probably time for a refresher. The band has a handful of extremely promising, unrecorded material and now plays a half-old, half-new set of songs.

The Crying Shame brings its variegated palate to Ballard's Tractor Tavern at 9 p.m. Saturday ($7).

• James Mercer, the singer-writer from the Shins, does a solo turn for a muscular dystrophy benefit 9 p.m. Saturday at Neumos ($25). It's a good guess he'll be doing "Phantom Limb" and other selections from "Wincing the Night Away," which Sub Pop releases on Jan. 23. Mercer and his band — including Seattle resident Dave Hernandez, on bass — play a "Saturday Night Live" gig on Jan. 13.

• The Blakes do double duty on Saturday at the High Dive, playing early (6 p.m., $6) and late (9:30 p.m., $6, a benefit for family programs). Several in the Seattle music scene expect The Blakes to have a big year. This young trio is somewhere between David Bowie and the Strokes; songs like "Two Times" and "Vampire" are a cut above most local garage rockers.

• MySpace pop-rock stars This Providence have a hometown show — after touring for much of 2006 — 8 p.m. Saturday at the Showbox ($10, all ages). This Providence has a Fueled By Ramen records release, and has had hundreds of thousands of plays on www.myspace.com/thisprovidence.

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com