Despite kicking up fewer shoegaze-y gales around their chiming guitar-pop these days, Brooklyn’s Asobi Seksu seem confident on their new album, the Polyvinyl-released Hush . The dreamy project of guitarist James Hanna and sugar-voiced singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate has enjoyed a steady fan base even when hopping between labels and sounds; their live show has always been at once surreally effects-driven and solidly grounded in taut songwriting. Hush ’s “Me and Mary” keeps up that exciting dichotomy while summoning early Velocity Girl, whereas the song “Layers” is ultra-sleepy. As for the ’80s-tinged single “Familiar Light,” it’s surprisingly poised and polite for a band whose name is Japanese slang for “casual sex.”
Mon., March 16, 9 p.m., 2009
