At first listen, Salt Lake City alt-country minstrels Band of Annuals turned me off with a few overused lines that utterly derailed me from what were otherwise sweet, thoughtful country songs. But that was only because the first track I listened to of theirs, “She’s Not Angry,” had me feeling wistful for long-lost loves with these lines: “I didn’t know that a man could fall so far/’Til I ended up right here/Passed out drunk in my car” and then completely ruined the mood with the following line: “Well I know it was wrong/But it felt so right.” Yikes. Fortunately, that jarring foray into cliche-dom only happens a couple of times, in a couple of songs. After a more thorough listen, I came to the conclusion that their songwriting, though simple, is actually pretty solid, aside from a handful of irksome phrases (and then, perhaps only irksome to, uh, a writer). At the end of the day, these guys have what’s really important: beautiful, melancholy country instrumentals, nice singing voices and obvious passion for the craft. Plus, they know how to use a pedal steel, one of my favorite soundmaking devices of all time, to their advantage. I can forgive ’em a cliche or two.

Sun., Aug. 17, 9 p.m., 2008