9:00 PM, $7 suggested donation

Songwriter Showcase featuring Scott Masson and Kent Lambert

Scott Masson of Office and The Juliets has been working to perfect and subvert the pop for more than a decade. While Masson strictly writes in the pop rock idiom, he can rarely resist the impulse to insert uncomfortable dissonance and lyrics. Even as his elegant melodies breeze through, Masson can be confrontational towards his subject and his audience. At times, his voice seems seduced and seducing, and at others, he seems tortured and cynical towards all things beautiful. While he is occasionally self searching, Masson is more apt to focus on others’ shortcomings and redemptions. Only his love songs are straight forward and reveal his untainted tenderness.

Kent Lambert of Roommate writes dark, apocalyptic songs with stark atmospheres, both lyrically and musically. His songs rarely stray from a pop realm, but they stretch the form by bringing in unlikely sounds, frightening lyrics or almost disfiguring melodies. At times, he repeats an unsettling sound or disconcerting vocal line against a brighter or more mellifluous counterpoint building the tension to a nearly unbearable level before releasing into beautiful refrain. Much of his sound is accomplished by combining acoustic and electronic sources. Lambert primarily plays the keytar, but he also writes for woodwinds, strings, Theremins, saws, vibraphones and various analog machines along with traditional rock instruments. And yet, the arrangements never seem contrived or flamboyant. Lambert focuses every sound and every word into a singular, linear composition.

At Elastic Arts, 2830 N Milwaukee (2nd floor)