Sweeping Exits Invites You to Live in Its Glam-Punk Fantasy World

Who: Mira Glitterhound (guitar, vocals), Myrrh Crow (keys, vocals), Shanley Narens (string section), Sonia Weber (bass, drums).

Sounds Like: The Punk Rocky Horror Monster Mash-up Picture Show.

For Fans Of: The Black Heart Procession, Nick Cave, Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie.

As she describes the inspiration behind the two upcoming records by her band, Sweeping Exits, Mira Glitterhound peels a long velvet glove off one hand, revealing painted purple fingernails. You'd think she was about to start referencing The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or maybe the Cramps. Instead, she starts talking about the melodic concept of polyphony. It's not the highest degree of conceptual musical composition, but certainly much more than you'd expect from someone who writes albums about vampires.

"Studying classical has taught me so much about that," she says. "I think of it as lifting weights, listening to a symphony by Mozart and trying to track different things that are happening. It's like steroids for my ears."

Previous to this conversation, one might have written off Sweeping Exits as something of a novelty act. But speaking to Glitterhound, the breadth of her ambition quickly becomes apparent. Her big idea for the band, she says, is to attach a specific genre to each album as a sort of sonic signature, in addition to a narrative storyline. One project will mimic Madonna and Scandinavian pop group Aqua and tell the story of "a transgender alien who comes down from outer space to give people the perfect pop music," while the forthcoming vampire epic, Glitter & Blood, will more closely resemble glam-era Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. The albums will coincide with graphic zines written by Glitterhound and illustrated by local artists that will delve deeper into each album's narrative arc.

If all that sounds daunting, The Projectionist EP is the perfect entry point for Sweeping Exits' sprawling opus-in-progress. The punchy title track laments the exploits of a murderous vixen who hides in the shadows behind the illuminated glow of a theater screen, an orchestral string section reminiscent of late-'90s Belle and Sebastian bolstering a jumpy minor-chord progression, while Glitterhound describes the gory details in a Morrissey-meets-Vincent Price croon. The overall effect is of a hilarious, ramshackle musical production in which traditional narrative structure and conventional definitions of gender and identity are passé.

"I want people to live in a fantasy with us," Glitterhound says. "I'm enamored with any type of creativity that will allow people to escape the world that we all agree on."

SEE IT: Sweeping Exits play Valentines, 232 SW Ankeny St., with Lubec and Blowout, on Thursday, Oct. 20. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

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