Robes

Tue., June 9 (and every Tuesday in June), 10 p.m., Silk City, 435 Spring Garden St., 215-592-8838, myspace.com/phillysilkcity.

by John Vettese

rock/pop

Really, it's all about texture. If we were to evaluate Robes solely on melodies and lyrics — which pine over routine personal failures and misspent romantic desire — well, we'd be a lot less impressed. It's not bad, but certainly commonplace. Smartly, this quartet of Wilkes-Barre transplants dress their thematic concerns in pure volume: the buzz of overdriven amps and the snap of broken drum heads, vocals screaming through an echo tube, Spiritualized-esque loops and samples. The result is galvanizing on the band's self-produced, self-released EP The Brakes; while we wait to hear what Brian McTear manages to do with its debut full-length, let's catch a show or three of Robes' Silk City June residency.