The 1900s are a 7-piece band from Chicago. They use unique arrangements to make strange and beautiful songs that are both endearing and fun. The 1900s have enough members that their songs can effortlessly slide across styles (coke 'n' rhinestone country, urban pastoral garage, straight-up boy/girl belting), filling a room while remaining breezy 'n' easy, even when dropping lines like "You said you'd never want to take it from behind from boys / but pride starts wasting away before your youth" in the chiming, bouncing, tambourine 'n' piano tapping "Georgia." The dozen tracks on Cold & Kind, the follow-up to last year's Plume Delivery EP, layer strong harmonies over vintage keys, piano, strings, and the rest of the rock 'n' roll sink. Sometimes we hear Belle & Sebastian covering 10,000 Maniacs; at others their named influences Fleetwood Mac (in those swaggering, calming voices) and Velvet Underground (the guitars!) raise their royal heads. Or, how about Nico's "These Days" sped and filtered through youthful Roky psych rollicking in "Two Ways"?
