The Pelts

This year may feel a lot closer to flying cars than it does to clean-cut love songs about runaway dream girls, but the latter was on full display last night as the Pelts laid out some classic rock, rhythm and blues for a receptive Cameron House crowd. Dressed in matching suits and long, Kool-Aid blue ties, the Ottawa-based four-piece peppered their time-warp sound with full-bellied four-part harmonies, chugging rhythms, rocking sax lines and a sprinkle of harmonica as they grooved through upbeat tales of fractured love and wasted youth, feeling tighter and more authentic with each song. An odd, slightly reggae-fied rendition of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" broke that spell momentarily and probably should have been left back in their rehearsal space, but the Pelt's light-hearted charm and tight, way-back aesthetic made that one little misstep a distant memory by show's end.