Two great acts for the price of none

The first Underground Sound of the year held in the Fireplace Lounge last Thursday, September 17 at 8p.m. was the most intriguing Underground Sound that has occurred in a while.

Jake Desmarais led off the night with a solid batch of songs, most of which were originals. Desmarais played a few songs that attendees of last week's Open Mic would remember, including his cover of The Avett Brothers "Will You Return?" Desmarais honestly doesn't sound like many other artists. He has a really unique voice that nicely offsets his faster paced, sometimes frantic style of guitar playing. His influences, including Say Anything and Manchester Orchestra, really shine through in his catchy choruses and personal lyrics. One of the highlights of the set was a heartfelt cover of the Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face." The song holds a special place in Desmarais' heart because of the love for the Beatles' his father instilled during his youth.

Desmarais has been playing music for a long time, and he credits his father for his talent. "I didn't really start writing my own lyrics until I got to high school," he said of his experience with composing. Given his age, it's obvious that Desmarais is somewhat of a prolific songwriter. "I think I've made five CD's worth of material since I started playing music," he said. He played a few more originals including "The Summer Song", "Goodbye Daisy" and a currently untitled, very catchy song he debuted at the aforementioned Open Mic. He also threw in a song called "Travesty", which was written by his old band Photons On High in High School.

Another impressive element to Jake's set was his choice in cover songs. He played both Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Willie Nelson's "Turn Out the Lights" which segued into the Mountain Goats' "No Children." Desmarais set was awesome, and if you're interested in having his music on your iPod, ask him for a CD. They're free. Closing out the evening was singer/songwriter duo Letters to Oz, composed of Abbie Morin and John Belmont. Morin and Belmont also performed at Open Mic, but this time they brought a full selection of songs from their album "About the Girl and the Great Flood." The pair really came through with a terrific, high-energy set of confessional verses and infectious choruses that had the audience clapping and nodding along throughout the evening. Abbie and John are High School best friends who have been playing together for almost two years. It would be thought they've been together longer considering how well they mesh their styles onstage. They are definitely quite the odd couple: Belmont is a punk and metal enthusiast with a laid back, earthy voice and Morin is the fiery Elliot Smith fan who confronts the audience with raw emotion. Somehow, they make it work with their undeniable chemistry and relaxed songwriting process. "Any given day, either one of us could bring something to the table" Morin said of how Letters to Oz songs come to be. The pair played an entirely original set, tearing through songs like "Love Shadow" and "Forced Some Feeling." Morin is excellent with the crowd, coaxing them to sing along and get involved. It's really great to see a set from some fellow students that can actually invoke emotion instead of just entertaining. How can listeners not feel for this girl when she introduces a song by declaring, "This song is about the worst person I've ever met?"

Letters to Oz clearly care a lot about the music they write, and it shows in their flawless harmonization and passionate stage presence. The pair ended their set with "The I In Team, " which is quickly becoming their signature song. Even a dropped pick towards the end couldn't stop Belmont from strumming through the powerful closer.

"Good show, good energy, good crowd. We had a lot of fun!" Morin said later, to which Belmont excitedly added, "We melted some faces!" Can't argue with that. Letters to Oz's debut album can be bought at Brokenrecordsct.blogspot.com for just $7.