Themes, James Apollo and Sexo Tropico

The Phantom, the full-length released last summer by Portland-by-way-of-Minneapolis-by-way-of-Santa Rosa duo Themes, is a haunting, smoky collection of slow-paced torchburners, bearing ghostly arrangements and a male-female vocal dialogue from Jacy McIntosh and Kelsey Crawford. They're sharing the bill with longtime friend James Apollo, the New York-by-way-of-Arkansas troubadour whose latest, Til Your Feet Bleed, is a spare, dusty collection that comes in the aftermath of a motorcycle accident that kept Apollo off his feet for six months. There's resignation and frailty in his songs, but also an untarnished optimism that gives them a woozy romanticism. NED LANNAMANN