First off: Great band name, right? Secondly: Singer/guitarist/keyboardist Nate Stone and bassist/drummer Guthrie Scarr have a genuinely interesting take on indie-pop. They play slow-tempo songs that toe the line between upbeat and remorseful, giving their presentation a divided realism that mirrors the complex nature of our relationships. Over care-free guitar lines, Stone spills downtrodden narratives that occasionally venture into the hopeful, but are always delivered in a dramatic wail that absolutely makes you feel his emotion right along with him. The group exercises restraint with much of their instrumentation, but when Stone lets his guitar run with the same angst he sings with (as he does at the end of “Don’t Mean Shit”), it’s extraordinarily fulfilling. With Ironwood Run, Charles Wicklander Band. TODD HAMM

Thu., Dec. 27, 9 p.m., 2012