The Jaguar Club :: Play Mercury Lounge, New Album On The Way

Familiarize yourself with this name: The Jaguar Club. You'll be hearing a lot more from them soon. I caught them recently at Mercury Lounge and it was a rare case of a band's live show backing up, perhaps surpassing, an excellent studio recording.

Their disk And We Wake Up Slowly had been on my desk for weeks before I finally popped it in and checked it out. What I heard surprised me - the depth of their sound and strength of the vocals far surpassed what I expected to hear (I guess "indie pick of the week," is more what I expected). But there are no wimpy, whiny tunes here, just a rich and expanding sound that grows to fill the space around you.

On stage at Mercury Lounge the band seemed to surprise their live audience as well. Their sound is Large, without being Loud. Frontman Will Popadic's voice grew stronger with each passing song, even as his body loosened up and belied his inner dancin' fool.

Overall I left convinced that this band is ready for a bigger stage. Their music has a richness and fullness that will carry through to an arena - picture them opening for Kings of Leon and holding their own - that's where the Jaguar Club are headed. Check out their first single Sleepwalking here, and keep an eye on Street Date on 9/1 for a celebration of the release of And We Wake Up Slowly.