Schedule \ Music Showcase: Paddy Murphy’s

A Severe Joy

A Severe Joy is the alterego of musician/producer José Ayerve. The former frontman for underground indie rock group Spouse, began exploring this new persona in 2011 and has since released a full-length album and a series of limited edition singles. As A Severe Joy, Ayerve offers high-powered, up tempo, pseudo-psychedelic impressions of love via references to monorails, helicopters, dance floors, and hand grenades. ASJ’s live show plays a bit more like a performance art piece than a rock concert, and chances are, you haven’t experienced anything quite like this before.

Sunset Hearts

Pop conglomerate Sunset Hearts was formed in late 2010, a who’s-who of Portland, Maine’s rock scene, with members hailing from The Rattlesnakes, HuaK, Marie Stella, An Evening With, Elf Princess Gets a Harley and more. Currently a nine-piece collective, their lushly-crafted tunes have quickly gathered a fan following to rival the most-established acts on the local scene. Their quick success is due in no small part to the gently measured chaos of their live show: known for their screaming synths, throbbing percussion, insistent vocals, gentle harmonies and a few megatons of guitar firepower, Sunset Hearts have just released a new EP, “Deco Tech,” which the Portland Phoenix calls “an impossibly dense mish-mash of keyboards, live drums and percussion, and smart lyrics that somehow manage to be melancholy and perfectly danceable at the same time.”