Drink Up Buttercup plays Alfred

Philadelphia-based band Drink Up Buttercup played the Knight Club with all the songs from their latest album, "Born and Thrown on a Hook" that was released in March of 2010.

Borrowing psychedelic sounds of the 1960’s, they play songs that are vaguely reminiscent of something from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. “Young Ladies” has a catchy piano melody that builds into the inviting sing-along chorus, “Come on, ladies enjoy your drinks...”

Advertised as Sgt. Pepper meets Flaming Lips, I find it more accurate (however more obscure) to say lead singer James Harvey’s song writing and vocal style occupies that ambiguous middle ground between Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes). It’s too moody at times to be purely My Morning Jacket-influenced, too jam-rock to be purely Fleet Foxes.

There’s also a dash of disorder in their sound. They are known to use garbage can lids for percussion in some songs.

Despite what numerous posters around campus implied, there is no stunningly attractive female fronting this band. Those posters, in fact, feature the cover art to the band’s debut album “Born and Thrown on a Hook.”

The show was part of a three-show, three day small tour for the album, the other two shows played in Pennsylvania.

Drummer Mike Cammarata was by far the most captivating musician at the show Saturday night and he did it with a pretty sparse drum kit. Cammarata provided a strong foundation that allowed Harvey and keyboardist Farzad Houshiarnejad a chance to experiment and jam with their sound through out the show.

When asked about their biggest influence, drummer Mike cited Lewis C.K. “...even though he’s a comedian.”

Drink Up Buttercup varied between dark, moody slow jams that exploded with sound. Harvey’s vocals featured an intense reverb echo that had a tendency to get lost in the mix. At times, the effect was frustrating and leaned towards annoying. However, at other times it really added to the construction and atmosphere of the songs.

The band would counteract the ethereal feeling they created with edgier pop-punk pieces that, like a shot of adrenaline to the heart of Uma Thurman, injected life into depressed crowd. The balance of highs and lows, as well as some real haunting harmonies, made for a really entertaining, albeit brief, night.