Fact: Mezzanine Owls are drawing larger crowds these days, and the indie-rock band certainly looked like they enjoyed playing new material to a packed house last night in Los Angeles. They also caught up with Buzznet after the gig.

The Mezz earn their following by writing creatively textured songs that build, swerve, and eventually launch into outer space. Their latest material, featured on the excellent and newly released Snow Globe EP (JAXART), is faster, easier to get lost in, and more passionate. The band played a roaring set of new songs featuring "Drift", "Snow Globe", "Ghost Ship", and the Slingshot Echoes swan song "Light Bulb". Bassist Dan Horne added some entertainment by balancing his bass in the palm of his hand during a noisy guitar bridge. If all bands could incorporate magic tricks I'd spend more time in the front fighting it out with the cool kids.

The greatest and most noticeable departure from their excellent 2006 debut album, Slingshot Echoes, are the floating, washier guitars that allow songs like "Ghost Ship", the title track "Snow Globe", and the building barrage of "Drift" to take off. "We played the songs from the EP in a live context for a few months before we recorded them, which we didn't do with the songs on our full-length. I think that process probably propelled these recordings in a noisier, more upbeat direction. I can definitely see us continuing to head that way", singer/guitarist Jack Burnside explained to Buzznet. Mezzanine Owls are indeed continuing to head towards their sophomore release. Burnside goes on to talk about plans of the next album being released, "in the not too distant future", with more shows and a tour in the works.

Speaking of tours, The Mezzanine Owls are also one drop in a large bucket of L.A. artists making the trek to Austin for SXSW. If you're down there and wondering which new act to check out then you'd be foolish not to catch them:

3/13: Eenie Meenie Records/JAXART party - 4 PM
3/14: Fader Magazine party (acoustic performance) - 12 AM

The Mezzanine Owls:
Jack Burnside (vocals/guitar)
Dan Horne  (bass)
Pauline Mu (drums/vocals)
Jonathan Zeitlin (guitar/vocals)