John Darnielle and co. stop by Castaways' to provide some rollicking, quirky tunes for an excitable audience.

Kevin Ramos wonders if the Rustic Overtones could have delivered a stronger performance at Castaways.

Cody Ernst assesses how the funk hurricane that is The Big Mean Sound Machine impacted Castaways on Saturday night.

Richly layering impressionistic narrative fragments, lush orchestral arrangements and infectiously catchy hooks, A.C. Newman hurled Castaways crowd into his cavernous, maximalist realm of Power Pop.

Newman wasted little time in warming the souls of the rain-drenched audience on Tuesday night, leading off with the triumphant, self-reflective, “There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve.” Echoing electric guitar gelled with rhythmic, playful shaker, as Newman cautioned, “There are maybe ten or twelve things I can teach you / After that your on your own.” Delicate violin finger picking showered the verse with droplets of sobering rain — “Make of that what you will.”