Tonight's Top Stop: Asobi Seksu

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THERE WAS A TIME — let's call it the early '90s — when bands crafted woozy, immersive soundscapes as they stared intently at the floor, when bands had chirpy female singers who cooed kindergarten-cute nothings to moony-eyed indie boys. Alas, these were never the same bands. Asobi Seksu is here to fix all that.

When the New York quartet checks into the Rock and Roll Hotel, frontwoman Yuki (just Yuki) will pitch woo with adorable quatrains like "Don't cry for sleeping kittens/'Cause they won't die today/We'll cover them with flowers/They dream their dreams away." And guitarist James Hanna will bring the noise with whammy-bar chord slides that conjure the ghost of Kevin Shields of the long-silent My Bloody Valentine.

On "Citrus," the band's sophomore outing, there's also a bass line deliberately swiped from The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me," and that, said Yuki, should be the true indication of Asobi Seksu's pop loyalties: "It was really more an homage to that song, 'cause we love that song so much." So much, in fact, that a cover will be the B-side of an upcoming 7-inch.

Yuki said Seksu is a song band, not a sound band, and there isn't a time-wasting knob-twiddler in the bunch. "We only had two weeks of recording time," Yuki explained. "We came in very prepared, with lots of different parts and ideas and charts, even." Phil Spector would be proud.

But when the band performs Friday, studio precision will be left behind. "There are definitely some details that we wish we could re-create onstage," Yuki admitted. "I feel that with our live performance, we're much more concerned these days with the energy — and even volume." Shields would be proud, too.

» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with The Dance Party, Hello Tokyo, Fri., 8 p.m. (doors), 9 p.m. (show), $10 (advance), $12 (at door); 202-388-7625. (Union Station)

This post was written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon
Photo courtesy Asobi Seksu