Cameo is a cool Williamsburg location that, like another favorite venue of mine, Glasslands, serves as an art gallery by day and holds concerts at night. The stage is in a spacious back room set off from the bar in front and the gallery next door, which insures that everyone near the stage is actually there to listen to music. The only clue that this space is owned by an art gallery is the beautiful, ghostly sky curtain hanging above the stage.

The venue seemed to be a perfect fit for Ball of Flame Shoot Fire. They sounded much better here on Wednesday night than they did at Court Tavern a few weeks ago, where I first saw the creatively quirky band play. BoFSF is an “experimental” band in that they stretch the indie rock sound to include sounds and song forms outside its usual boundaries. Their newest album, Pots and Knives, is a testament to how far they go while still creating something beautiful. At Cameo, however, BoFSF choose to play exclusively their immediately compelling songs. Interestingly, having all of these songs back-to-back made it clear just how much classic soul they’ve got running in their veins. “Little Accountant,” a great song from Pots and Knives and a fan favorite at Cameo – people were actually singing along, not something you see in small venues in New York – is really a soul song. Like many soul ballads, it’s about a tragically underappreciated man who’s scorned by the woman he’s interested in. Jess Tambellini’s captivating, broken voice made it the best song of the night.

Little Accountant – Ball of Flame Shoot Fire

Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Tim Good and Singer/keyboardist Winston Cook-Wilson especially stood out at last night’s show. Good has maybe the hardest job in the band, as he has to (for example) switch immediately from rock solos to funk rhythm guitar, run over and strap on the accordion for a section, and quickly get the guitar back on. Amazingly, these transitions felt seamless. Cook-Wilson, though not as featured as a singer on Pots and Knives, was definitely carrying his vocal weight last night. “Flintlock” was another fan favorite, and showed just how much of an anchor Cook-Wilson is for the band.

BoFSF was followed by Land of Pines, a riff rock band from Seattle that is obviously influenced by the 90’s West Coast rock scene. According to frontman Evan Easthope, he and guitarist Kessiah Gordon started out recording together and only very recently picked up the rest of the band to help fill out their sound. It shows: the one song of the night written by the band in its full incarnation was the clear stand out. It rocked the hardest, felt the tightest, and it was great to see how into it the entire band was. Overall, Land of Pines was really solid, and a fun show. I’m glad they made it over to the East Coast.

Ball of Flame Shoot Fire doesn’t have any upcoming shows listed. But – showing just how versatile of a group they are – they’ve actually completed a sound installation that’s gone up at What Happens When in SoHo. You can dine on French food while listening to the French-inspired creations of BoFSF and taking in some French Impressionistic art. Also, their album Pots and Knives is still available for a free download on their bandcamp page, as are a couple of other projects they’ve done. Download it! All of it! You won’t be sorry.