They're Airborne, all right

That sound you heard Friday night in Echo Park was a band breaking out. The Airborne Toxic Event, folks. Yes, it sounds like the answer to an extra-credit question on your middle school science final, and you probably have had to read a lot of books to understand all its nuances. But in front of a crowd packed with fans from a generous guest list, the Event was just that, poetry you could dance to.

Made you want to run back and pay the cover charge.  Made you want to shell out a fiver for the band's self-released three-song EP, though they were gone by the end of the night. Made you want to move, and embrace, and embrace life, and maybe even embrace one of those bacon-wrapped hot dogs you find on Sunset Boulevard after a show. Alas, there was not a vendor in sight.

Such euphoria was brought to you by singer-songwriter Mikel Jollett, whose tales of groovy mopery and pent-up anger lead you to believe he has stared down some of life's tougher questions. His music is obviously derived from the Crown Prince of the Bummed Out -- who, coincidentally, was playing to a packed house a few miles away -- but substitutes an air of art-house detachment for Morrissey's drama-queen theatrics. Jollett's lyrics will become evident as as the Event releases more music, but suffice to say they covered ground ranging from relationships gone sour to Middle East incursions gone sour.

His Cal Arts-heavy five-piece (which grew to six on a couple of songs with the addition of a horn player) was nothing short of amazing, considering the band is four months old and this was its 11th show. You don't see a bassist (Noah Harmon) playing his electric with a bow too often, much less dueting with a violist (Anna Bulbrook). "Deliverance" for art-schoolers.

You swooned, you buffeted, you took a deep breath. You finally stopped and thought, "What's the deal with that band's name, anyway?"

Photo: From left, Noah Harmon, Mikel Jollett, Anna Bulbrook, Steven Chen (Kevin Bronson/LAT)