Saturday, March 15   11:20 p.m.
Spiro's   (615 Red River St)

Imagine if you somehow found a way to release your heartfelt admissions and fears with grace and intelligence. Enter Austin quintet Pompeii, whose subtly haunting indie rock anthems are laden with smart, soaring instrumentals and just the right amount of discretion. Think if Coldplay wasn't pretentious. Think if Death Cab had skipped years of lo-fi bedroom recording and gone straight to honing their pop sensibilities. Pompeii has a gift for telling you what you already know. They just make it sound better.

The immediacy of their beauty was recognized at their SXSW showcase spot in 2005. Eyeball Records (My Chemical Romance, Murder by Death, New Atlantic) owner Alex Saavedra was so impressed that he offered them a contract on the spot. The result of that discovery was full-length, 'Assembly', produced by D. James Goodwin (Thursday, Murder by Death) and released in October 2006 with praise from National Public Radio (NPR) and American Songwriter Magazine.