Weird War

Eminently suspicious character Ian Svenonius has gone through more postures than an art-class model. In fact, there’s something un-American about the clothes-consciousness and over-the-top hipness of his bands, including Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up and Weird War. The band’s new album, Illuminated by the Light, has the feel of one of those pop-culture-fiending Japanese or Scandinavian bands, winding its tendrils through falsetto funk, piano boogie and bluesy psychedelia, all with a studied rawness and urbane emotional distance. Of course, it also comes with a fun-loving wink and a hellishly infectious groove, in stark contrast to all the callow hipsters out there choking up their brittle excuses for dance music. And curiously, Svenonius’ cool come-ons invest each pose with such commitment and personality that he seems, of all things, sincere.