REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: WESTERN HYMN PLAYS THE NEW FRONTIER >>>

There’s something so oddly poetic about Western Hymn playing at the New Frontier … But never mind.

Western Hymn plays nervy indie punk that’s unusually concise for local music. There are no showy solos or grandiose messages. All the fat’s been trimmed off, leaving only lean, slippery riffs and exhausting drums packed into two tight minutes per song. The mature compositions reveal the songs to be the work of sophisticated pop minds.

Try as I may, I find no ragged edges: nothing is for nothing, as the jumpy guitar stabs propel the listener from one end of the songs to another.

It’s comforting to feel as though you’re being guided by hands attached to a band that knows precisely what it’s doing.

[The New Frontier Lounge, with Sedan, Friday, Oct. 2, 9 p.m., 301 E. 25th St. Tacoma, 253.572.4020]