Thursday, July 13, 2006; C07

Before the Swedish indie-pop group Acid House Kings played a single note in the sweat lodge that was DC9 on Tuesday night, guitarist Niklas Angergard neatly summed up the band's sound by telling the audience to prepare for "gentle, kind, singalong-friendly" music.

The Kings delivered on that promise during its brief set, although it would have been a bit more accurate to add "kitschy" to that description. But what else would you expect from a dance-inspired band from the land that gave us Abba?

Although there were some almost loungey moments, most of the songs were sprightly, and lead singer Julia Lannerheim was the perfect person to deliver them. She hopped around the stage barefoot when not at the microphone, wearing an impossibly huge smile throughout.

If the music thing doesn't work out for her, she can certainly fall back on a career as an aerobics instructor. Set closer and crowd favorite "Say Yes if You Love Me" showed the group can succeed without being cute. It was a perfect slice of indie-pop in the vein of genre luminaries Heavenly and Velocity Girl.

Perhaps one reason Acid House Kings were onstage for barely half an hour was that four of its members pulled double duty in the opening act, the Legends.

Less kitschy, but no less catchy, the group has a definite formula, but it works well -- slightly dancey verse gives way to soaring chorus with vocal harmonies, all wrapped up in three minutes. Give the Swedes credit for keeping things short and sweet.

-- David Malitz