Pop Music Reviews : Romeo He’s Not, but Penn’s Got a Handle on Eloquence

So what if Michael Penn was Romeo in black jeans? What if he was Heathcliff?

Well, he’s not. At least that’s the answer to those questions (posed by Penn himself so tunefully in his recent rookie hit “No Myth”) as gleaned from his Roxy debut Thursday, the first of three shows in two nights for the Angeleno.

Penn seems more the kind of guy whose shirt and hair never quite fit right, whose shy reservedness could easily be mistaken for brooding awkwardness--hardly the kind to express his passions with grand gestures a la the two cited romantic heroes. His performance was nothing if not understated and low-key, even at several junctures when the music (powered by a band that now includes X drummer D.J. Bonebrake and Lucinda Williams’ guitarist Gurf Morlix along with long-time collaborator/keyboardist Patrick Warren) rocked flat out.

But he is the kind to express his passions with grand eloquence, a la the folks who created Romeo and Heathcliff. He’s the rare writer who can make the mundane sublime--the song “Big House,” he said, is “about a big house,” and “Invisible” inspired by a favorite Santa Monica coffee shop, the explanations taking nothing away from their agitated and aching qualities, respectively. His restrained demeanor only helped bring these out. Grand gestures would have squashed them. And, for the record, he was wearing blue jeans.

Penn made one grand gesture, though, in letting opening act Peter Blegvad take over for one encore. Blegvad--who’s been in such art-conscious bands as Slapp Happy and the Golden Palominos--tends to pack his songs with thicker irony than Penn (he’s the kind of guy who brings his brother on stage to help do a song that begins, “I’m my father’s only son”). But the twists of melodies and words yield plenty of pleasures.