Bad Bad Hats charmed the crowd at Barboza. // Photo by Peter Cozens

The first thing I noticed about Cumulus was that front woman Alex Niedzialkowski and bassist Stanley Kim had matching haircuts: cute little bowl cuts that let their faces shine in earnest. Taking the stage on August 25th at Barboza, the entire band had a pleasantly refreshing toned-down cutesy vibe that made me feel like it would be the most joyous surprise in the world to find them popping out of Easter eggs. Think: the calming energy of a Hawaiian lifestyle with the joy and candor of Weezer, and a just a little indie-folk mixed in.

What made Cumulus’ set, though, was the way Niedzialkowski described her songs. Before each song, she would give a prelude to what they were about — from a cut-and-dried track about consent to a tune about “if you’ve ever fucked anything up.” That context created a sense of community (which was also the theme of one of their tunes), and Niedzialkowski’s easy-going confidence made me feel like a butterfly gracefully floating on top of a pat of butter shaped like a cloud.

The Seattle five-piece opened for Minneapolis-based Bad Bad Hats, whom Cumulus is on tour with. Composed of front woman Kerry Alexander, bassist Connor Davidson, and guitarist Chris Hoge, Bad Bad Hats is undeniably midwestern, from their closing track, “Super America,” about the midwestern chain of gas stations of the same name and just wanting a Reese’s cup, to Alexander’s unapologetically dry midwestern humor, to her story about being on the metro in Paris eating most of a sandwich before realizing she had also eaten most of the paper it was wrapped in. It was just the right amount of spice to bring to Seattle: not too east-coast-hustle, but enough to snap the audience out of the typical PNW haze.

And the audience ate it up. One girl in the audience turned to her friend and screamed, “I love her!!” after Alexander’s proclamation in her opening for “Super America” that sometimes you just need snacks, sorrows, and comfy pants, and, a few times, the audience started clapping along to the music without prompting from the band, which is fairly out of character for the typical Seattle crowd. Maybe the audience was mostly made up of transplants (myself included), but, either way, even when Alexander spoke about her desire to write a song about love and drugs after hearing Tove Lo’s “Habits,” but settling on the title “Nothing Gets Me High” because, indeed, she has never been high, the crowd cheered.

Potentially the most unique aspect of Bad Bad Hats’ entire performance, though, was the instruments themselves. The bass Davidson was playing, as Alexander told the audience, he bought earlier that day in Seattle. And Alexander’s guitar was a character of its own — her name is Nancy Drew, and she helps Alexander solve the mysteries of songwriting. And Alexander also had one surprise prop: the sunglasses her was seemingly wearing as a headband graced her face for a faster dance tune, proving Midwesterners can indeed be cool.