Adam and Dave's Bloodline

"Where You Are"

by John Vettese

Key players in Marah's rhythm section, Adam Garbinski and Dave Petersen struck out on their own last year and opened the Bielanko brothers' annual holiday show by conjoining their first names and claiming a bloodline. Onstage, they're two stripped-down rockers with natural charisma, huddling round the mic, stomping their feet, turning up their amps and strutting. The songs on their self-titled debut indulge much more deeply into Adam and Dave's myriad musical interests; their awesome, eclectic self-titled debut kicks off with a diminutive glam-tinged tune and later dips into country and punk. But track two is the first powerhouse we hear from them, the number that establishes an overall sense of assortment that the rest of the album delivers upon. First there's a clap, then synthetic drums and arpeggiated guitar, harnessing a new-wave energy to buffer Garbinski's wry vocals. When we get to the chorus, prominent keyboards rush in, harmonies from Petersen, a soaring hook that wouldn't have been out of place on Tunnel of Love. "Where You Are" is prototypically '80s, but the best elements of it — the Jim Reids and Bruce Springsteens. This isn't what you'll see onstage at this year's Christmas Marah-thon, when the Bloodline cranks the overdrive, but it's what you'll want to seek out when their set is done.

Listen to Adam and Dave rock the shit out of "Where You Are" when they open for Marah at Fillmore at the TLA, Dec. 7.