Back in Austin, we hardly ever missed a Moonlight Towers gig at beaten-down rock dives like Club de Ville or Hole in the Wall. The band was fond of covering Television’s “Marquee Moon” and the Rolling Stones’ “Moonlight Mile,” but rest assured they do know songs that do not have “moon” in the title. Lots of them, in fact, songs that stick to your ribs even as they dance in your ears. Together about a decade now, the quartet has steadily sharpened its skills while remaining blissfully ignorant of intervening trends. What you hear on their three albums — including their first in six years, the brand-new Day Is the New Night (Chicken Ranch) — is what you get live: hearty, heartfelt rock and roll that balances meaning and melody, maturity and messiness.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.
