POP MUSIC REVIEW : ALT at House of Blues: Talent but Little Discipline

ALT, named for the first-name initials of members Andy White, Liam O Maonlai and Tim Finn, has released an album and is on a U.S. tour, but it’s not really a band. In its show at the House of Blues on Monday, the trio didn’t appear too far removed from the informal drinking session in Dublin that sparked its collaboration.

On the album, “Altitude,” the singers turn that informality to their advantage, tossing off a soft-focus blend of Beatlesque pop, ethno-ambient atmosphere and folkish rock to carry their sometimes wry, sometimes heartfelt observations about love and life.

But there’s more to being a real group than that, and Irishmen White and O Maonlai and their Australian pal Finn haven’t really meshed. Unrestrained by the discipline and purpose that being a band imposes, the three musicians drifted into their own realms at the House of Blues, letting their orbits intersect as they might.

They let songs trickle away indefinitely, they spent a lot of time chatting among themselves, they started songs that turned out to be impromptu experiments, they let O Maonlai indulge his soul-singer excesses.

Finn, who is again in search of the right situation after his brief stay in Crowded House, and former Hothouse Flower O Maonlai are both strong presences and intense musicians, and something of value could conceivably emerge from their odd pairing. Right now they connect only fitfully.