Hearing a band which has seasoned a record with peculiar instrumentation can cause one of two reactions in rock ‘n roll purists: 1) Immediate seizure of the opportunity to cite every musician that has ever employed a theremin, vibraphone, or kazoo since the beginning of recorded sound, or 2) exaggerated eye rolling coupled with exasperated sighs so overwrought you may fear them epileptic and not just snotty. Hardly Art’s latest darlings the Pica Beats, fronted by musical mastermind Ryan Barrett, make swelling, pretty songs tinged with ironic sadness that will bring back the taste of your first serious heartbreak. Cultivating a sound so heavy on Scottish influences (i.e. Belle and Sebastian and Looper) you’d think they were all named Stuart, the PB’s are somehow able to pull off the near impossible task of employing a sitar, strings and oboe without seeming self-indulgent, smarmy or the slightest bit wanky, making them the perfect band for eye rollers and fact quoters alike.

Thu., Oct. 9, 8 p.m., 2008