By Thomas Higgins

The UK based band Yuck has managed to do something that very few bands are capable of, which is lose their lead singer and manage to find a way to come out even stronger in the end.  After releasing their self-titled debut album, Yuck to much critical acclaim and touring all over the world, lead singer Daniel Blumberg left the band and was replaced by guitarist Max Bloom who stepped up and took on lead vocal duties.

It is easy for a band to go through this kind of turmoil and fall by the indie rock wayside, but luckily that is not the case for Yuck.  They have somehow managed to weather the storm and release an album that rivals the quality of their first.  Therefore, I was quite excited to see the “new” lineup in person the other night.

London, England’s band Yuck, along with openers, Velah and Alvvays came to the Sinclair in Cambridge to melt some faces as the band supports their recently released new album, Glow & Behold.

Boston bred rock band, Velah opened up the show with an energetic set filled with plenty of guitar riffs and powerful vocals by female lead singer Jen Johnson.  Their music is very much in the same vein as a band like The Joy Formidable.

Next up was Toronto based band, Alvvays, who kept the crowd going with a set filled with sugary lo-fi pop jams.  Lead singer, Molly Rankin kept the stage banter to a minimum and instead let the music do the talking.  Their debut album is set to arrive sometime in the spring.

As the show continued into the late hours of the night, the energy within the small Cambridge venue   continued to grow as Yuck emerged and opened their set with the song “Middle Sea” from most recent album Glow & Behold.  Throughout the set the band played a balanced mix of songs from their new release and crowd favorites from their debut album. Bassist Mariko Doi took over lead vocal duties on their old song, “The Wall.”

One surprise highlight of the set was when the band busted into a cover of New Order’s song “Age of Consent” which the band handled with their unique twist by adding their signature wall of distortion.  I thought it was interesting to see a band with plenty of their own songs to play instead choosing to play someone else’s.

The biggest surprise of the night however, was that the band’s most popular song “Get Away” was played early on in the set, while it’s commonplace in today’s concerts to close with the biggest hit unless you have too many to choose from.  The band instead chose to close out their set with the up-tempo rocker “Georgia” from their first album. The song was met with a loud burst of cheers though and closed off a great night of music in cobblestone city.