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MONDAY & TUESDAY
If Jakob Dylan had a brother who sang with him, the Wallflowers would sound like the Cash Brothers. On the Canadian fraternity’s latest album, How Was Tomorrow (essentially a U.S. release of their 1999 debut, Raceway), Andrew and Peter Cash rarely sing without each other. But their tight, warmly ragged brotherly harmonies don’t recall the liquid vocals of the Everlys as much as they do the edgy, dark synchronizations of the father-son duo the Spanic Boys. Firmly anchored in a moody brand of jangle pop that ranges from spare (acoustic guitar and piano) to lush (organs and slide guitars), the Cash Brothers’ lyrics recall personal agonies, generally precipitated by spiritual torpor. “No winter wind/No cold chill/No questioning/Not tonight, we don’t got the will,” from “Awkward Game,” is typical of the stark sentiment that issues from under the rolling melodies. Although most of the songs are midtempo or downright ballad-slow, “Night Shift Guru,” a bouncy paean to 7-Eleven clerks with a catchy scale-climbing chorus, and the Paul Simon-ish “Guitar Strings and Foolish Things” should quicken the pace in a live setting. The Cash Brothers open for the Flatlanders at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 30, and Tuesday, July 31, at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $25. (703) 549-7500. (Buzz McClain)