Their songs are the biggest Event

Songwriter Mikel Jollett is of a breed that counts at least as many literary references as musical. That certainly accounts for his band's Scrabble-worthy name, the Airborne Toxic Event (from Don DeLillo's apocalyptic treatise "White Noise").

But how is it the Los Angeles quintet arrived at a sound so exuberant that the band's fellow art-schoolers want to dance through their MFA projects?

"A year and a half ago, I was trying to finish a novel, and I was alone in a room constantly," says Jollett, a former music journalist (including some freelance work for The Times). "My mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, and I had just been diagnosed with a congenital skin disease, though it was the kind that only attacks your vanity.

"I quit smoking, spent a month walking around in a daze. It was like the moment in my life I realized I was going to die."

What began as cathartic songwriting gained momentum after Jollett, 32, met drummer Daren Taylor and "we locked ourselves in a warehouse in downtown L.A. for four months," Jollett says. Slowly, the pair surrounded themselves with pedigreed musicians — jazz bassist Noah Harmon, keyboardist Steven Chen and violist Anna Bulbrook. They emerged with a batch of nouveau-wave songs that are equal parts Modest Mouse, the Smiths and scholarly journal.

With only about 10 shows and a self-released EP behind them, ATE has turned heads — Rolling Stone tabbed the band one of the 25 best bands on MySpace. Their headlining show Friday night at the Echo is expected to attract a cadre of label scouts.

"This has all happened pretty fast," Jollett says. "I just know the first time we were in a room together, there was an energy — we could feel it."

||| The Airborne Toxic Event performs Friday night at the Echo.

||| Download: "Does This Mean You're Moving On?"

Photo: From left, Anna Bulbrook, Noah Harmon, Mikel Jollett, Steven Chen, Daren Taylor (by Erin Broadley)

Comments

[anna]

I saw this band at their Sea Level in-store. I walked away very very impressed.