*** The Silos

HEATER

(Checkered Past)

"Mom Out Dancing," a tune that arrives near the end of Heater, exemplifies why Silos bandleader Walter Salas-Humara remains a songwriter capable of startling perfection at any given moment. Sung from the perspective of a (presumably) middle-aged guy talking to a teenage girl, the song is a declaration of the guy's desire to take the girl's mom out for the kind of romantic, kick-off-your shoes night on the town that the dating daughter takes for granted. With its bump-and-grind guitar groove, primal backbeat, and the suitor's frisky petition, the number's a sweet and sexy snapshot, and a refreshing reminder that passion (and rock and roll) is for grown-ups, too. It's also vintage Salas-Humara. Starting with the Silos' 1985 debut, About Her Steps, and continuing up through the new album, Salas-Humara has specialized in finely wrought, unselfconsciously adult pop music. Not the "adult" of adult-contemporary-bland, but the adult of mature, meticulously rendered songs that illuminate the quiet struggles and small triumphs that animate people's everyday lives.

-- Jonathan Perry