Doin’ the Trout: Springfield’s Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin can drop its line here anytime

On a Thursday night, a band from Springfield, Missouri, rocks the Jackpot Music Hall in Lawrence, but it sure feels like a hometown show.

Warmth and familiarity radiate between the clump of college kids down front and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. The band, which itself hails from a college town, prefaces about half of its songs with shout-outs and dedications.

At one point, a chant rises from within the crowd: “Trout! Trout! Trout!”

Lanky singer and guitarist John Robert Cardwell chuckles. “The Trout is a dance move invented by my friend Colleen,” he explains before undulating in demonstration.

Earlier, Cardwell, who is losing his voice, had warned that the show might suck. But it doesn’t. At all.

If I weren’t already a fan of SSLYBY, this bopping set of indie pop would win me over. It has a catchy, vaguely familiar quality — I hear traces of Elliott Smith and Simon and Garfunkel, plus twangs of alt-country. Yet the loose guitars, harmonized oohs, random cowbell and jams that never get too heavy are distinctly SSLYBY.

I can just see these southern Missouri boys, in their jeans and button-downs, playing on a Springfield front porch.

Broom, the band’s 2006 full-length debut, was an imperfect bedroom recording that made the music — especially Cardwell’s and drummer and guitarist Philip Dickey‘s soft vocals — all the more intimate. Pershing, SSLYBY’s second LP, came out last year on Polyvinyl Records (Of Montreal‘s label), which also rereleased Broom.

About two-thirds of the way into the show at the Jackpot, most of the band shuffles positions. Dickey takes the mic and a guitar. Cardwell takes the bass. Bassist Jonathan James moves to the drums. Guitarist Will Knauer stays put.

Dickey leads the band through several newer songs, including “Dead Right” and “Some Constellation.” The band steps down after “Modern Mystery” but returns a minute later for an encore.

“Aw, shucks!” Cardwell says.