Who is Arcade Fire? Beats me. What is Scotland’s answer to Arcade Fire? According to NME, that would be Broken Records, a six-piece indie folk group that’s playing Sunday night at the Black Cat Backstage.

…Okay, so NME may be guilty of exaggeration. It takes more than just pianos, horns, and strings to be Arcade Fire. Plus, there’s a world of difference between the tiny Backstage, and the Merriweather Post Pavilion filled by Arcade Fire last August. But an intimate venue like this will be perfect for the melancholy tunes spun by Broken Records. I enjoyed their debut album “Until the Earth Begins to Part”, which was filled with sad-sap songs about failing relationships. The strings and horns (plus lead singer Jamie Sutherland’s accent) add a distinctly Scottish flavor to their tunes. This will be their first date on their first US tour, in support of their new album “Let Me Come Home”.

This band should be a good pairing with DC locals US Royalty. If you haven’t caught these guys yet, now is the perfect time – their self-released debut album came out just last month, and they’ve garnered attention from the likes of NPR and Washington Post. Their recent show at Rock and Roll Hotel ended up selling out, so I imagine many of their fans will come out for this one as well.

Broken Records
with US Royalty
Black Cat Backstage
Sunday, Feb. 20th
9pm
$10

Martin Silbiger

Martin moved from Atlanta to DC in 2007. He works as a software developer for Soundexchange, a non-profit royalty administration organization. A self-proclaimed metal snob, Martin loves bands that push into unexplored territory. He also writes about pop culture here.