DAN BRYK
The Den at Two Boots;
Thu 14

When a piano man's songs are really popping, it can seem as if his heart is beating straight through his chest. In spite of the untrendy bits of flesh that would seem to block his heart from his audience, Dan Bryk, a cunning Canadian with a terrific ear for melodies and an eye for words, makes his palpitations heard, and then some.

Bryk's stateside debut Lovers Leap (Scratchie) reveals a heart with a voracious appetite. Lost love, found love and love's skanky cousin, lust, are thoroughly explored as the singer addresses subjects that seldom receive pop serenades: "chunky" women, a 13-year-old piano mentor who molests one song's narrator, and even cult-famous computer programmer Mark Turmell, who seems to have been a childhood idol of the budding songwriter.

Geek that he is, Bryk also reserves ample space for wooing pop music itself. His songs' characters claim to dig Momus, Leonard Cohen and oldies drive-time radio. His biggest infatuation, however, is Randy Newman, who gets namechecked within Lovers Leap's first five minutes (Randy is on the air-waves when the aforementioned randy piano mentor slips his fast fingers down the narrator's belt) and hovers over every note Bryk plays like a sardonic Obi-Wan Kenobi. In fact, don't be shocked if Bryk whips out a Newman rarity at this show, where he headlines the latest "Nova Night", those eclectic weekly bills put together by the Brooklyn band Nova Social, who will be backing Bryk for part of this set. The intimacy and openness of the fledgling series should prove the perfect environment to watch the singer's heart bulge all the way through his chest.

-Jay Ruttenberg