She wants commitment - BUZZ BANDS - Los Angeles Times

She'll get to the point all right

Jesse Sykes has the voice of a barmaid who always tells you the truth at closing time. It's faintly weathered and fairly frank, and on the third album by her band, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, it navigates some rugged emotional territory.

If only the title, "Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul" (released this week on Barsuk Records), weren't so daunting.

"The emotional thread couldn't be explained in one song title," says the Seattle-based singer-songwriter. "I wanted it to have a grand quality ... [to signal] that the album is going to take a certain level of commitment from the listener, but that it will unveil itself over time."

Indeed, her rootsy, noir-ish rock is better suited for long drives across the desert than rainy nights on the Puget Sound. This batch of songs, realized with collaborator Phil Wandscher, benefits from an amped-up treatment that nudges the band ever so slightly out of the melancholic shadows. "I think our music is more hopeful than people realize," Sykes says. "Some people who loved us for a more pastoral, minimalist sound might not like this, but we're not reinventing the wheel."

Never sacrificed, however, is Sykes' candor; here, you feel no coyness or gamesmanship — the songwriter is looking you straight in the eye. "I'm done with cynicism," says Sykes, whose band opens for Sparklehorse on Friday at the Henry Fonda Theatre. "I hate to see people be afraid of sincerity."

The right time has arrived

Just think of the Minor Canon as Paul Larson's back catalog.

The debut by the L.A. six-piece, "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" (out Feb. 20 on its own label, Tenderness Records), features material dating to Larson's days in the late '90s with the indie rock band Strictly Ballroom.

"I didn't have an outlet for the songs," says the singer and multi-instrumentalist, who played guitar in the quartet that included, among others, Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks, Mystic Chords of Memory) and Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, the Postal Service). "I never wanted to throw them away, but I just never found a plan for them. Maybe I thought they were too honest or too revealing or something — I guess I got over that."

Not that Larson could have executed his compositions on his own. The Minor Canon's canon includes fully arranged indie-pop with a three-piece horn section, organ and, on some songs, two drummers.

"I always wanted to do something like this because I grew up listening to Motown stuff.... A lot is inspired by Memphis soul; there's even a tinge of early '70s Elvis," says Larson, who acknowledged he had difficulty getting musicians to sign on for the project. "Everybody was like, 'Yeah, I'll do that with you.' But it was just party talk."

The Minor Canon, with Ryan Blake on keyboards, Ben Eisen on bass, Erik Soderstrom on drums and horn players Mario Frias and Mike Richardson, performs Feb. 15 at the Echo.

Fast forward

Touts: Eleni Mandell celebrates this week's release of her latest, "Miracle of Five," with a show tonight at the Echo.... Ex-Cibo Matto singer Miho Hatori plays the first of two local shows (with Los Abandoned opening) tonight at the Detroit Bar; on Friday, they're at the Troubadour.... Glen Phillips, former singer for Toad the Wet Sprocket, plays tonight at the Hotel Cafe.... Hard rockers Bullets and Octane headline the Roxy on Friday, with the Ringers opening.... Soulful singer-songwriter Ernie Halter celebrates the release of his album "Congress Hotel" with a show Monday at the Knitting Factory.... And February residencies are in full swing: Simon Dawes on Mondays at the Echo; Eastern Conference Champions on Mondays at the Silverlake Lounge; Division Day on Mondays at Spaceland; In Waves on Tuesdays (alternating between the Silverlake Lounge and El Cid); Astra Heights on Wednesdays at the Silverlake Lounge; and the Idyllists on Wednesdays at Boardner's.

— Kevin Bronson

Recommended downloads

Stream the new album by Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter at www.barsuk.com/home.

"It Never Was" by the Minor Canon: a1022.g.akamai.net/f/1022/8158/6h/images.latimes.com/media/mp3/2007-01/27649684.mp3

Watch the video for Miho Hatori's "Barracuda" at www.mihohatori.com.