A friend of ours at Chop Suey Saturday night told us the last time The Clientele [myspace] played Chop Suey all of 16 people showed up. Clearly the band is doing something right, because the place was bustling this time around. (Amazon's only got two copies of their last album left in stock at the moment.)

They're touring for Strange Geometry and playing some new pieces from "God Save the Clientele." The three-piece band is joined by a violinist, thanks to the idea of adding strings for Strange Geometry. Pop but downbeat emotionally, they can sound like The Monkees in a minor key -- daydream believers in a world that's bleakly unfair. Their last train to Clarksville will likely leave the tracks on a curve, injuring 27 and killing 2. The guitars glisten with psychedelic tones, the drums are lightly caressed: it gets a bit dreamy and steamily melancholy, like being dunked in a cup of lemon tea on a rainy day. Who can't relate to a song titled "(I Can't Seem To) Make You Mine"?

After a feedback-plagued start, they got into a groove and stayed there. While the album's producer has been praised for lightening up on the reverb enough to reveal singer Alasdair MacLean's gift for Larkinesque lyric poetry, that was not quite the case at Chop Suey.

Fleet Foxes, who opened, is a 3 Imaginary Girls crush, and we could hear why. Lead singer Robin Pecknold's quavery tenor mellowed as he sang, and strengthened. The songs are folkpop with some jangle, the lyrics mysteriously descriptive, laid on with soulful harmonies. We've been listening to them at their MySpace page, since there doesn't seem to be an easier way to get to their music -- "Icicle Tusks" is a big hit with us. In theory, they play next at the Fremont Octoberfest, September 23. If you're around, drop in -- it's worth it.

The middle band, Great Lakes, we've saved for last because we were surprised to find them on this bill. After two rock songs with a touch of twang, the twang solidified into a distinctly country sound. The crowd dispersed somewhat during their set, and later MacLean, during The Clientele's set, referred to them as "Steppenwolf." Not sure what he meant by that.