I had never been to Regent Street Retreat (RSR), and it had been the unfortunate butt of a series of ill-informed jokes within my friend group. Naturally, then, I seized the chance to make the bar and venue the latest victim of my confirmation bias (and catch a show of promising up and comers, of course). Resurrecting the bones of shuttered venue The Annex, RSR Bar makes a worthy stab at re-establishing itself as a pillar of the venue community. Reminiscent of The Frequency, its most obvious competitor, it’s a large, dim room that’s marginally plusher than your cool cousin’s basement. Limited decorations and surprisingly limited booze may not sound appealing, but it somehow adds to the scrappy charm of the place. This odd charm permeated the night with all three bands that took the stage.
First up was Heavy Looks, a local Madison band, making their live debut. Their shaggy power-pop was unexpectedly delightful and put together, considering the newness of it all. There were a couple nervous tics, but overall I don’t think they could’ve hoped for a better premiere.
Second was Sat. Nite Duets, the lovably ramshackle Milwaukee band. I’ve seen them open a number of shows around town and they were what had drawn me into the show. Their fuzzy, jagged pop-rock has serious ’90s affectations and [insert obligatory Pavement comment here]. The performance careened wildly, seeming to always be five seconds from complete degeneration, but the vibe was warm and inclusive; the sparsely populated room seemed to shrink from cavernous to cozy over the course of their set. (Shout out to “Genghis Khan” — I love that song.) Banter was goofy but fairly minimal until tragedy struck, but sadly, no “GUITAR DOCTOR??” was in attendance to help the guys with their instrumental woes. They forged onward, switching instruments and finished on a resilient high note.
The main event was SXSW band-to-watch, ON AN ON. The Minneapolis/Chicago band’s cool synths created an almost cruelly efficient sound. Their dream-pop was so precise and polished, no one would fault them for professionalism. The songs had the sweeping grandeur and pop acumen of late-period Coldplay but without pomposity (yes, that is actually a compliment). The dissonance between their openers and their own set created a strange dichotomy between ON AN ON and their predecessors, but they were self-aware and made it work. Noting the basement vibe, they seemed genuinely excited to play for the small but rapt crowd. They closed with “Ghosts” and “Every Song” whose towering and shadowy drama devastated the room. I was floored the whole time that a band this young could possibly sound so self-assured. I can comfortably say I was lucky to see them now, because they’re going to be doing bigger and better things in the not-distant future.