Photo by Lindsay Beyerstein

“The hook for Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society—who come to the Regattabar Thursday the 25th—is that they’re a ‘steampunk big band,’” writes Jon Garelick, who explores the philosophies behind Argue’s music-making in a preview in this week’s Boston Phoenix. “If you’re a jazz fan, you don’t need to know what that means. And if you’re not a jazz fan but have steampunk inclinations, maybe it will pique your interest.”

“For the New York–based, 34-year-old Argue,” he continues, “steampunk means confronting the 21st century with an anachronistic ensemble that was ‘designed to fill ballrooms in the pre-amplification era.’ In a sense, he’s ‘imagining an alternate reality where big bands were still widely popular and jazz was still on speaking terms with other musical genres.’ Sure, fine. As Sinatra said, ‘Whatever gets you through the night.’ For the rest of us, this means some really cool big-band music.”