Northampton’s And The Kids are making really smart and thoughtful music that happens to be satisfying to listen to, not just to think about. The band appears to have been forced from being a trio into operating as a duo after one of the members got deported. It’s returned to three-piece form with a replacement.
The band’s recent record, “Friends Share Lovers,” has a communal feel, bringing to mind Animal Collective, Stereolab and Siouxsie and the Banshees at times. Tribal drumming gets paired with layered vocals and atmospheric guitars. The band’s songs are coherent, even when they lurch with post-punk tension, like on “Picture.” Lyrics can be understood. There’s a lack of murk, even if the emotional context is cloudy.
Many of the songs seem to address the confusion and ambiguity of those intense late-teen/early-20s friendships, the kinds that are so charged with attachment, sometimes spinning off into explosions, when friends and housemates can seem as intimately connected as family. It’s an interesting, under-explored territory.
And The Kids perform at The Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12. 203-288-6400, thespacect.com.
