Washington D.C.’s Spoonboy and London’s Colour Me Wednesday will be descending upon Public Space One this Sunday in support of their recently released split LP. Locals Lover’s Speed and Lipstick Homicide will share the bill, as well as Rational Anthem, who just made the move from Sarasota, Florida to Iowa City. The show begins at 8 p.m. and has a suggested donation of $5-10.
Described by Maximum Rock n’ Roll as “a poor man’s Belle and Sebastian,” Spoonboy is really just the work of David Combs, also a member of the pop-punk outfit The Max Levine Ensemble. As Spoonboy, Combs has released a handful of 7-inch splits and tour demo CD-Rs over the past few years, as well as two well-loved full-lengths, 2005’s I Love You, This is a Robbery and 2011’s The Papas.
Spoonboy’s songs have a strong political bent, frequently covering issues like gender fluidity and advanced capitalism, but wisely Combs presents more questions than answers in his song, thereby avoiding the preachy side of political music. That his music is fun and bouncy, while remaining charmingly homemade, certainly helps as well.
Colour Me Wednesday is a four-piece from London who play sugar-rushed and bratty punk songs about British politics and vegetarianism, among other things. They’ve got a pretty straight-forward pop-punk sound that will fit in well with the rest of the bill, but hold on to a bit of a innocent C86 sound, as well. Their debut album, I Thought It Was Morning, was lauded as one of the most socially conscious albums of last year.
