Live Reviews

A long goodbye

Pretty Girls Make Graves, Middle East Downstairs, May 17, 2007

By JIM SULLIVAN | May 21, 2007

Pretty Girls Make Graves

Could Pretty Girls Make Graves be the first band ever to break up because the drummer is exiting? Most groups just get a new one and carry on. “It is probably a first,” allowed singer Andrea Zollo before the band’s near-sellout show downstairs at the Middle East last Thursday, part of PGMG’s farewell tour. She added that this particular band’s drummer, Nick Dewitt, does other things in the group, like write and sample.

Although the Seattle-based PGMG took their name from a Smiths song, they don’t sound like any one band. There were some lovely Roxy/Eno squalls sprinkled throughout their 75-minute set, but what they really love are jagged guitars and staccato synth blasts. They prefer fast to slow, and they know the joy of repetition. On their swan-song CD, Élan Vital, they toy with art rock. At the Middle East, however, they had a raw edge and an intensity that didn’t subside — a manic pop thrill. If there was a downside, it was the loss of Zollo’s high-pitched voice amid all the noise.

“We always looked forward to coming to Boston,” Zollo said from the stage, near the end. “It sounds like bullshit, but it’s true.” So, why is Dewitt exiting after the tour? “I quit because I wanted to focus on my own music,” he said backstage, post-set. “It’s very different, with different styles and influences. It wasn’t that easy to do that with this as my main focus.” Well, he won’t be the first drummer to embark on a solo career.

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