Doors open at 7 p.m. and the performance begins at 8 p.m. Tickets for the 21-plus show are sold out.
The show, which will be opened by Tennessee outfit Moon Taxi, is this year’s Can Concert, which is sponsored by the Bluebird in conjunction with radio station WTTS.
Some door proceeds will go to Hoosier Hills Food Bank, and the venue requests attendees bring two cans of food for Hoosier Hills, Bluebird owner Dave Kubiak said.
Thursday will mark Houndmouth’s third time playing the Bluebird. Kubiak said past experiences have been positive, and he expects the same for this show.
“Obviously, the people here are receptive to them,” he said. “That type of music, it fits well at the Bluebird.”
He said the music hits a happy medium for the venue — it catches audience’s attention but doesn’t demand complete silence or stillness.
Since forming in late 2011, Houndmouth has opened for bands including Drive-By Truckers, the Lumineers and Alabama Shakes, according to a press release on the Bluebird’s website. Shortly after forming, the group signed to record label Rough Trade on the strength of a home-recorded EP. It released its debut album, “From the Hills Below the City,” in 2013.
“We lucked out,” guitarist Matt Myers said in the release. “We knew we were making good music. We knew we had something, but we didn’t know it would escalate so quickly.”
Earlier this year, Houndmouth released its second album, “Little Neon Limelight,” via Rough Trade. It has toured extensively behind the album since its March release, including stops at Bonnaroo and South by Southwest and a performance on “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Thursday’s show is also Houndmouth’s second Bloomington performance this year — it played the Bluebird in March. But despite Bloomington being only a two-hour drive from Houndmouth’s hometown of New Albany, Indiana, Kubiak said he thinks other factors might influence the group’s local popularity.
“They have a strong draw here, and I think that has to do more with the radio support we have with them (WTTS),” he said.
But even if, as Kubiak suggested, the band’s locality hasn’t influenced its popularity in Bloomington, those southern Indiana roots have influenced its output, according to the release.
In the release, keyboardist Katie Toupin said things band members have witnessed in the area have influenced their narratives, which often depict crime, poverty and addiction.
Even though the members haven’t been involved in some of the events they sing about, there’s an emotional truth to the music, Toupin said in the release.
“No matter how much anyone wants to write a completely fictional or narrative song, there’s always part of you in it,” Toupin said in the release. “I think that it is important, even when writing narrative songs, that there is something real about them.”
