Rogue Wave

Does this ever happen to you? You’re listening to your iPod on shuffle mode and a song comes on that you just can’t identify. It’s your collection, you put it on the iPod — how did this song you don’t know end up in there?

It happens to me all the time. Often it’s a very indie-sounding song. I’m not even sure what “indie-sounding” is supposed to mean anymore, but I hear this one song and it fits the label. I can tell the songwriter probably listened to a lot of Elliott Smith records because the vocals are quiet and the mood is kind of subdued and melancholy, even when the lyrics are a little silly or when the band is playing full-tilt. I can tell that the band probably has toured with the likes of the Shins because there’s a little of that quirkiness — or with Band of Horses because there’s some of that earthiness. Often the song sounds familiar, probably because I’ve heard it recently in a TV commercial or on one of those TV dramas where hip bands get their music played. And I think, “I really like this song.”

I pick up the iPod and look at the screen, and it’s Rogue Wave. And I think, “Rogue Wave: What a good band.” But then I forget about it, and when the same song comes on my iPod again a month or two later, I go through the whole thing again. Still, when I’m in the middle of listening to a song as pretty as Rogue Wave’s acoustic ditty “Eyes,” I’ve got no complaints.

ROGUE WAVE: Belly Up, Thursday, January 31, 9 p.m. Sold out. 858-481-8140.