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Cool Bostonia: Listen to the Luxury spin ambitious tales of modern romance in a post-Britpop era


Through all of its musical whims and trends of the past 20 years, Boston has always been a city that’s carried the torch for Britpop. Often the jump-off point for British band attempting to crack America via tour, and with a fair bit of significant history between us and them, our rock and roll town has maintained a musical connection to our neighbors across the pond.

One of the bands keeping that link alive for the better part of a decade has been the Luxury, the Jason Dunn-led rock project that releases its first new album in five years — oh how Stone Roses of them — in the sprawling Bones & Beaten Heart. The record gets the release party treatment tonight at Cuisine En Locale in Somerville, on a snow-fighting bill with Vary Lumar, Z*L, and Shadwell.

Listen to three standout singles from the new album, via the Luxury Soundcloud, below.

Dunn says Bones & Beaten Heart is more than just a post-Britpop record, though the songs are catchy enough to fall into the import bins at a ’90s-era Tower Records (and justify those old $30 price tags). But this release has no Japanese bonus tracks or live versions tagged on at the end. Because it doesn’t need them.

“Rather than being a collection of intended singles, the record mixes modern transatlantic pop aesthetics with a running psychological narrative, and blends each song into the next, a la Floyd or perhaps Yes,” Dunn says. “The entire album was recorded and mixed in my home studio and is garnering a lot of surprised responses in that regard, perhaps a sign that you can indeed replace shitloads of money with shitloads of concentration and elbow grease.”

The album is also divided into halves, with Bones “being the stripping away of one’s own constructed person to rediscover a self worth being,” and Beaten Heart “being that new id rising up, the opportunity being nearly lost through the reconstruction of the ego, until common sense finally pervades.”

Perfect for Valentine’s Day eve.