The Stratford 4/Ester Drang

The Stratford 4 (pictured) is the earnest sound of post-shoegazing pop. Topped by guitarist Chris Streng’s Lou Reedesque vocals, their second CD, Love & Distortion (Jetset), may be twisted, but it’s also warm, nice and relaxed -- a fragile, layered sound made sensitive by tunes like "Telephone."

Infinite Keys (Jade Tree) from Ester Drang is shoegazing too, but psychedelically so, a densely recorded drift produced via Chicago’s Soma Studios, home of Tortoise. But Drang’s electro-ambient and acoustic guitar-driven noise has a sonic ting that rings subtly between noirish bop ("One Hundred Times"), eerie electronics ("Dead Man’s Point of View") and lonely, lyrical songs with the greatest titles ("No One Could Ever Take Your Face").

Both bands open for Pedro The Lion on Tuesday; get there early.

Tue., May 6, $8, 7:30 p.m., all ages, with Pedro The Lion, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 800-594-8499.

—A.D. Amorosi