Hot Ticket is a column where I occasionally highlight an excellent upcoming concert that might not ping on your sonar otherwise.

On Tuesday, April 20th, The Mary Onettes (of Sweden) will bring their perfected brand of doomed romance, indie-pop to DC9. The Mary Onettes are touring to support their excellent second album, Islands.

I have never seen The Mary Onettes perform live but have been a fan of their music for a long time. I am very excited for the chance to see them, especially at such an intimate venue. Their concerts have received rave reviews calling their live performance magical and grandiose, while applauding their subjugation and mastery of their chosen stylistic niche.

The Mary Onettes’ sound is in the vein Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds, and New Order. They create emotional, sweeping, synth and guitar based tunes that hark back to the heyday of the gloomy romantic singer: a character usually seen sporting all black, walking along an anonymous cement embankment on a gray day, while lamenting how the world just won’t let him be with his lady love. It is epic, tragic, fun stuff that offers a great nostalgia vibe while providing a new millennium update on a sound that was largely absent from music in the 1990’s. At the same time, The Mary Onettes play this music with complete seriousness. There isn’t a trace of hip irony in their songs. Instead there is a refreshing honesty that lends actual emotion to their music. The Mary Onettes are a band that try to revive the lost romantic in us all.

I think this show is going to be a real stunner. The synths and guitars are going to sound great at DC9. And I can not even imagine what it is going to be like standing that close to Philip Ekström while he croons tunes that are meant to be sung across massive canyons and raging rivers to his love on the other side.

Tuesday, 4/20:
The Mary Onettes with The Finish
@ DC9
$8