Railway Children Not Quite on Track

Three songs into its Thursday night Lingerie set, Gary Newby, singer for the Railway Children, qualified the quartet’s approach: “We’re not all miserable bastards in Manchester.”

Though they may come from the same English town that brought such disparaging gloomsters as disco-depressives New Order or those purveyors of eternal romantic misery, the Smiths, the Railway Children have an attitude best summed up in song titles like “Brighter.”

Unfortunately, a more apt adjective could be predictable .

The group’s blend of consistently strumming guitar textures and Newby’s clear vocal yearning is user-friendly and punchy enough to escape being mere college-rock fodder. But the Railway Children need to take a few more chances before their sincerity-pop runs out of steam.

LIVE ACTION: 10,000 Maniacs’ twice-postponed Wiltern Theatre concerts have been rescheduled for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Tickets purchased for the original shows will be honored and tickets will be on sale Monday. . . . Amy Grant will be at the Pacific Amphitheatre on Nov. 12. Tickets on sale Monday.