Lush Finds Its Focus in Catchy Tunes

You’d be hard-pressed to see much difference between Lush’s performance on Wednesday at the Whisky and the English quartet’s Los Angeles debut at the Roxy five years ago. Singer-guitarists Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson are still a mismatch--Berenyi with her fire-engine red hair and black vinyl mini-dress, Anderson with her strait-laced demeanor. And neither is exactly a master of stage presence.

Hearing, though, is another matter entirely. Gone, for the most part, are the gauzy, dream-pop textures and impressionistic lyrics with which the band originally made (and lived up to) its name. Instead, the crisp Brit-pop of the new “Lovelife” album proved the culmination of a five-year evolution, the catchy hooks and trenchant social studies placing Lush alongside such current British leaders as Oasis, Blur and Pulp.

That made all the difference. With such witty male ego-bashers as “Single Girl” and “Ladykiller,” the band has found focus and purpose--and in the process given the two women’s physical dichotomy the character of a double-edged feminist sword, with Berenyi’s brassy extrovert and Anderson’s no-nonsense introvert both exuding confidence.

Second-billed Mojave 3 is an English quintet that favors a neo-country sound. Its very slow tempos and borrowed Americana seem not only a tad affected, but also rather attractive. Both bands, as well as third-billed Scheer, return for a sold-out Palace show on May 17.