CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In his music, Joe Pernice comes off as sad and

forlorn.

Up on stage, he is no different.

He cocked his head back as if in some sort of emotional pain and seemed to be

straining as he scratched at his guitar, summoning the magical, melancholy

sounds that fill his music.

That's just how he looked when he and his Pernice Brothers played a quick set

last Thursday at Kendall Cafe to promote the May 19 release of Overcome

By Happiness, a dreamy, albeit tortured pop disc from the former Scud

Mountain Boy. But this was no Scud Mountain Boys show.

"Sonically, I was limited in Scud Mountain Boys," guitarist/vocalist Pernice acknowledged at the

show. "It was time to do something new."

In fact, some will be surprised by the disc's ambient pop production, including

French horns, rich arrangement and heart-fluttering violins. Think Gram Parsons

meets J Mascis and Big Star at Brian Wilson's studio.

The Brothers live

show offers a stripped down version of their recorded sound, with the musicians translating the sound

as a standard rock foursome. Brothers Bob and Joe Pernice play guitar, Thom

Monahan handles bass and drummer Joel Westerdale (sitting in for Aaron

Sperske) makes up the rhythm section.

From the looks of it, only a handful of the audience seemed familiar with the

Pernice Brothers' sound: A table of avid Scud Mountain Boys fans, a few locals,

plus some friends and critics.

No matter -- Joe Pernice played with a convincing passion, acting out every

tragic line, every minor chord from the spotlight. Overall, he and his band make

some good pop, but rather than coming off as tragically sensitive balladeers,

their live show seems at times self-indulgent. "Crestfallen," which began the set,

is a depressed, thin-sounding and even scratchy, early '90s, Dinosaur Jr-style

pop ballad that, while an intriguing blend of slow guitar and vocals, takes some

getting used to in a live setting.

It's as if you had to know these guys to appreciate where they are coming from

on many of their tunes. The same can be said of "Overcome by Happiness."

Despite these concerns, here's where the band excels: Joe Pernice is clearly

reminiscent of a young Elvis Costello -- pin-striped shirt, glasses, cocked head,

holding the guitar like an armload of boxes, singing and enunciating intensely

as he makes his musical point.

The guy gets into it. No matter how tragic the music gets, Pernice's presence

seems genuine. And for that alone, he's worth the time.

The Brothers even tried their hand at the late Beach Boy guitarist Carl Wilson's

"Dimmest Star," a moody, sad ballad with the Pernice Brothers-styled refrain

"Don't ever leave my troubled life." Perfectly suited for their sound, the

Pernices' vocals caressed airy guitar textures courtesy of brother Bob, who

played stoically, eyes closed. And, once again, the song filled the room with a

solemn, almost haunting vibe.

Cramped onto a minuscule stage and wedged into a corner, the band looked

uncomfortable at best. Westerdale couldn't even stretch his arms as he

brushed a snare delicately. Joe Pernice, meanwhile, sang "All I Want,"

hunched over his steel acoustic, crooning out the wistful love-gone-wrong

weeper.

And the sorrow just kept coming.

"Continuing in the vein of really bad suicide," Joe Pernice said, leading into the

next number, "Chicken Wire," which found lanky bassist Monahan in a groove

that contrasted starkly with the song's death theme. What made the tune even

more bizarre was Bob Pernice's guitar solo, which, the band joked afterward,

sounded like something off an album by orchestra leader Herb Alpert.

While the brothers dished out their share of '60s-styled sap, they never strayed

too far from their honest-to-goodness sad-core theme.

"Wait To Stop" saw Joe Pernice pleading, "And I want to be with you so bad I

feel like I'm dyin' and I die," his whispering vocals segueing into the Byrds-like

jangly acoustic-guitar verse, "I could not wait my whole life for you." Pernice

cried as the band grinded out the melody with precision.

It wasn't long before the Scuds fans in attendance were singing along to tunes

such as

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Scud_Mountain_Boys/Grudge_Fuck.ram">

"Grudge Fuck" (RealAudio excerpt) -- with the classic love line: "I would give everything to make it with you, just one

more time, everything I own" -- while the Pernice Brothers kept

pushing their newer, more tragic sound for all to hear.

Question is, can they keep their sad songs interesting enough for a bare-bones

live show?

Time will tell.