Frances Cone: Friday, July 27, 7 p.m.
Oneida: Sunday, July 29, 7 p.m.
Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, 304 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Two exhilarating bands – both of them originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York – share one weekend at the Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel when a pair of acclaimed national acts serve as Moeller Nights headliners: the indie-pop four-piece ensemble Frances Cone, which takes the Davenport stage on July 27, and Oneida, the psychedelic-rock quintet being showcased on July 29.
Based in Nashville and composed of lead singer Christina Cone, Andrew Doherty, Adam Melchor, and Aaron Hamel, Frances Cone made its debut with 2013's Come Back and earned critical praise from the start, with Popstache.com raving, “What makes this album a sparkling affair lies in the nuanced and textured music, which seamlessly glides along delicate and charming vocals.” The following year, Frances Cone released a self-titled EP that Paste magazine included in its “Best of What’s Next” series, stating, “You’ll hear everything from folk inspired harmonies, to driving bass drums, to grungy synths, all culminating in an arena anthem, where Cone’s roof-lifting vocals shine.” With Frances Cone currently touring in support of its forthcoming sophomore album Late Riser, the quartet has already earned massive praise for a pair of singles that will appear on that 2018 release: “Arizona,” a song that has accumulated more than six million streams on Spotify and that NPR featured among its highlights of SXSW 2017, and “Leave Without You,” which Billboard deemed a “personal ode to New York itself” and “a powerful new track.”
An experimental-rock outfit that originally formed in 1997, Oneida made its debut with that year's A Place Called El Shaddai's, and delivered a most auspicious release in 2002's Each One Teach One, which Prefix magazine described as a “sprawling monster of an album,” with two of the LP's tracks – “Sheets of Easter” and “Antiobiotics” – lasting more than 14 minutes each. Famed for using antique keyboards and analog electric pianos along with guitars, keyboards, and percussion, the band is currently composed of Brooklyn-based rockers with the monikers Kid Millions, Bobby Matador, Hanoi Jane, Showtime, and Barry London, currently touring in support of Oneida's 14th album Romance. Released this past spring, it's a work, according to Pitchfork magazine, “possessing a mode indelible to Oneida, one of strong self-awareness, an intimacy both immediate and lurid, and – most importantly – loads of fun.”
Frances Cone performs its July 27 concert with an opening set by CJ Run, and Oneida plays its July 29 engagement preceded by a set with Liz Cooper & the Stampede. Both shows start at 7 p.m. with admission $12-17, and more information is available by visiting MoellerNights.com.
