If you know a bit of the history behind Cambridge, MA venue T.T. The Bear’s Place, you probably also know that some of the changes made in connection with the past few years’ remodeling decisions have not been entirely, ah, acoustically beneficial. (It’s rumored, for example, that the venue’s proprietress won’t add any buffering material to the back of the stage simply because she likes the weird wall mural too much to obscure it.) Though T.T. The Bear’s has become increasingly notorious for attracting breakthrough bands and then making them sound like shit, a number of artists find ways to elude the rumored curse. Elvis Perkins, the Pernice Brothers, and Archer Prewitt all sounded effortlessly great on the triple bill they played there last December. And last Friday, Brooklyn indie pop act The Essex Green overcame obvious sound difficulties to rock the house regardless.

That’s right, I said rock the house. The Essex Green definitely err on the side of twee, but musically, they know what they’re doing, and they have great chemistry to boot. Returning to the Boston area to headline at TT’s a little over a month afer opening at Paradise Rock Club for Camera Obscura, The Essex Green brought even more verve to the stage the second time around. Usually it annoys me when bands do that jamming back-to-back crap, but when this band did it, it didn’t look pretentious. One gets the feeling they’re all good friends–hell, they’ve probably even coupled off a little bit, but not in that gross, annoying Fleetwood Mac kind of way.

Anyway, away from their antics and on to the music. They opened with the first two tracks of Cannibal Sea (“This Isn’t Farm Life” and “Don’t Know Why You Stay”) in succession, then graciously proceeded to take a bunch of requests (including “The Late Great Cassiopia”), most of them unsolicited. Yeah, okay, this might make them crowd-pleasing pushovers, but I found it somewhat charming that they juggled the set list to accommodate the screams of the bouncy chicks in the front row and their drunken male Seattleite compatriot who kept leaning on me (also unsolicited) and encouraging me to dance.

So, not being one of their drunken groupies, why did *I* like the show? Well, basically, I’ve always been a sucker for vox. (This isn’t really much of a surprise, considering that, around the time I started branching out from my dad’s 60s rock records and coming into my own tastes musically, I was in choir and taking voice.) Vocals definitely aren’t the only thing that make a band for me–but because it’s what I know best, the greater the percentage of the band that’s vocally competent, the greater the respect I’ll have for them. In this regard, The Essex Green earned an A+. Though Sasha experienced problems with her vocal levels early on, it wasn’t a deterrent in the least. By the end of the show, each band member, including guitarist Jeff Baron, had taken a turn at a mic.

What else can I say? Their drummer is awesome, their bassist is funny and cute, and their website reports that they are planning a week’s worth of West Coast shows in April, with Kelley Stoltz opening. Stay tuned!

(Seriously. Go and see them, all of ye pop-hungry brats.)

Photos by Christine for SSC.

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