Ears Wide Open: Francisco the Man, His Orchestra

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[Music from two up-and-comers who are playing residencies this month:]

Not even two years old, SoCal collective Francisco the Man has set out for the general sonic space occupied by fellow Orange Countians Limbeck. Singer-guitarist Scotty Cantino’s orchestrated, twang’d-up take on surfside pop hits me somewhere between Wilco and the Pernice Brothers, maybe in a Band of Horses register and probably more youthfully optimistic. Harmonies and keys from bandmate Joel Bond make listening to Francisco the Man wrestling with its burdens very unburdening indeed.

||| Download: “In So Many Words”

||| Live: FTM plays tonight and Nov. 24 at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

His Orchestra sounds like the chamber group you’d take to the arcade. Growing out of the coffeehouse duo of Douglas Smith and Raviv Ullman two years ago, the bands ranks have swelled by four — plenty of hands to toss the kitchen sink of instrumentation at the orchestra’s (somehow) restrained arrangements. It’s synth-pop on an organic diet: Glockenspiel, cello, accordion, mandolin and violin are all served, but in proper portions. The band has finished an album with producer Dave Trumfio that is due for release in early ’09.

||| Download: “Black Coffin.”

||| Live: His Orchestra performs tonight at Nov. 24 at the Silverlake Lounge.

Photo: His Orchestra by Gregory Smith