MARAH IF YOU DIDN’T LAUGH, YOU’D CRY YEP ROCK

These kids from Philly seem to have realized their overproduced third album, 2002’s Float Away with the Friday Night Gods, was as bogus as a microwavable cheesesteak — they even poke fun at the disaster in their press kit, proclaiming the tepidly MOR, almost career-derailing disc "incredible." But talk about shaking it off: singer/guitarist brothers Serge and Dave Bielanko all but reclaimed the Springsteen-meets-Faces reckless majesty of their first two albums with last year’s 20,000 Streets Under the Sky (cue collective sigh of relief from diehard fan base), and If You Didn’t Laugh proves the comeback ain’t no fluke. It’s forged by rag-tag melodies lovingly nudged and shoved along by shambling beats and topped off by a boozy jamboree of tambourines, honky-tonk harmonicas, and weeping lap steel guitars just this side of sloppy. "The Demon of White Sadness" mixes grit, spit, and polish; the dancehall banjo brigade of "Sooner or Later" grins like a lost Ronnie Lane track with Slim Chance. Serge and Dave sound as if they’d been doing a whole lot of writing, recording, and drinking — they even have a Christmas album coming out next month. Maybe the move to Brooklyn kindled a freshly focused take on the old neighborhood. Marah may have left their beloved Philly, but they’ve found their musical way back home.

Marah + Thee More Shadows | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge | Oct 23 | 617.492.BEAR.