Nashville’s The Features on rise

On a warm August night, showgoers welcomed back The Features to their home state after an extensive tour opening for Kings of Leon.

It is difficult to refrain from tacking labels onto a band like The Features, straddled between a fair bit of fame and a nameless, “big-little” band. They can have an encore for their performance, and yet one can be admitted to the show for a mere $7.

With a sound that bears all the exuberance of Brit-pop and simultaneously maintains the warm-fuzzy indie appeal – sans the often overbearing soppiness of the genre – it is rare for the Nashville fan base to let a band spread its wings and tour other cities.

This is especially true in an area where bands that can pass for rock are decreasing while over-produced pop and diluted girl-country music are overflowing in the area.

After arguably the longest sound check in small-venue history, Milktooth opened the show Aug. 28 at Club 527. For four twee, hipster-looking guys, they have a sound that’s bigger than their slight, indie/rockabilly appearance might suggest.

With the sort of appeal in the same boat as Kings of Leon, Milktooth pulled from its debut EP with a lot of clashing drums and twisting bass. Frontman David Condos also pulls off otherwise maddening, incessant hammering on the keys in “If No One Ever Stops Me.”

The Ascent of Everest took the stage next, producing an almost uninterrupted flow of ethereal jamming, making it difficult to discern between songs. Some would say it sounded like merely the byproduct of residue built-up from a thousand acid trips, while others could appreciate a lot of shimmering texture and winding symphonics.

By the time The Features went on, 527 was packed and the crowd was inching zombie-like closer and closer to the stage, as they tend to do when the show heats up.

The band’s set lasted about 20 songs, including the two-song encore wildly insisted upon by the crowd. The set list delved into favorites from “Exhibit A” and “Some Kind of Salvation,” and the band pushed the evident playfulness in the albums even more so live. Opening with the brassy “The Drawing Board,” from the get-go, The Features show their knack for fluctuating melodies and ironic, bemused-sounding vocals reminiscent of The Kinks.

Almost like an eastern Death Cab for Cutie, The Features somehow breed offbeat appeal through a conflicting brainy but slacker style – determined with just one look at the animation of the band members and the keyboardist who looks suspiciously like Ben Gibbard.

But The Features haven’t slacked in paving a path to success, paying dues like any other band to break-out of Nashville. And true, a certain grandeur follows the Sparta, Tenn. natives with a sound that seems destined to break through the confines of small venues, whether one worships or loathes the band.

The Features’ EP “The Beginning” marked the beginning, released in 2004. The band debuted with bleating vocals and an abundance of upbeat, poppy percussion. Even the slower, acoustic-feel of “Bumble Bee” sounds sunshiny.

Later that year, they churned out “Exhibit A,” the critically acclaimed full-length album that featured the return of frontman Matt Pelham’s wavering, British-sounding voice, calling again on a distinct English influence, particularly from The Kinks and The Clash.

From the melodic caress of “The Idea of Growing Old” to the ridiculously catchy “Blow It Out,” “Exhibit A” summed up The Features’ frame of mind. They brought back the same rusty, thrown-together-rock fused with lyrical sophistication and wit, landing gig openings for bigger bands.

Then in 2008, the long-anticipated, full-length follow-up to “Exhibit A” was released digitally and on vinyl, titled “Some Kind of Salvation. The album, produced by Brian Carter and Jacquire King (Sea Wolf, Kings of Leon) in Murfreesboro, branches out further, deviating somewhat from the consistently up-tempo “Exhibit A” by mellowing down and turning more to the bizarre.

“Whatever Gets You By” keeps pace with eerie, foreign-sounding keys, and tracks like the light, whispering melody of “Baby’s Hammer” soften things down. Then this past July, “Some Kind of Salvation” was finally released in physical form – and in a much grander sense.

In June, renowned independent music publisher Bug Music collaborated with Nashville rockers Kings of Leon to create a record label, a project that has been in the making since fall of last year. The label hunts for the new, the diligent and the innovative. The Features, fitting the description, was the first band to land a spot.

Now The Features are touring extensively into December throughout the states, and maybe their break with Bug Music will let them drop the label of one of the greatest bands you’ve never heard and set them on the path of just one of the greatest.

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