Live In Concert from NPR's All Songs Considered Folgen

On Thursday at SXSW, our intrepid team hosted a day party, caught two performances by Bruce Springsteen and experienced a whole lot of emotion.

Lower Dens' music is about mood more than stage-stalking showmanship: Singer Jana Hunter's icy-cool demeanor sets a hauntingly atmospheric tone that's all about mystery, washes of guitar-saturated noise and the difficult emotions that lie, unexpressed, beneath the surface. Mixing songs from 2010's majestic Twin Hand Movement with material from the hotly anticipated Nootropics, Lower Dens seethed through a gorgeous, brooding set at NPR Music's SXSW day party, held Thursday at The Parish in Austin, Texas recorded on March 15, 2012.

Not many bands can boast two drummers and an uncluttered sound, but Polica made it work at NPR Music's SXSW day party, held Thursday at The Parish in Austin, Texas. At The Parish, the band toned down the heavily manipulated vocals of Channy Leaneagh — on the new Give You the Ghost, her voice slides lithely all over the place — to reveal her as a bold, even ferocious singer in her own right. Hear the band, recorded live from Austin on March 15, 2012.