Watson Twins, Chevelle play Thursday at separate venues in Denver

The Watson Twins, with Joshua Radin, will play Denver s Bluebird Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday.

This is a good week to check out Denver concerts. On Thursday, The Watson Twins hit the Bluebird, and hard-core rockers Chevelle play the Fillmore the same night.

The Watson Twins

The Watson Twins are changing their musical tune.

Chandra and Leigh Watson have become underground sensations with their emotive, alt country and indie folk tunes.

That's about to change with the 2010 release of the sisters' Talking To You, Talking To Me. The new record finds the twins heading into soul and pop turf, and Thursday the twins will show off the new tunes at the Bluebird.

"My sister Leigh and I were singing in choirs in Kentucky before we moved to L.A.," Chandra Watson said. "We write our music separately, but once the melodies and lyrics are in place, we come up with the harmonies for the songs.

"Our music is definitely changing and growing. We came from this American folk place, and we were very comfortable with that for awhile. Now we're pushing to explore other influences."

The Twins were inspired by the soul pop music of songwriter Carole King, and the sisters wanted to emulate her vintage brand of blue-eyed soul for the new record,

"We really liked Carole King's use of keyboards and pianos, and that really changed things up sonically for us," Watson said. "We also wanted to bring a real honesty to the vocals, and make them passionate and soulful.

"This is really going to change our sound, but it makes sense for us. It will open up more doors. Instead of playing with Americana realm acts, we'll able to perform for more pop and soul shows."

In an interesting note, The Watson Twins recorded their new CD near Yosemite National Park. The sisters had a little help from My Morning Jacket's Bo Koster and the band Everest on the new project.

Chevelle

Hard-edged rockers Chevelle always pack Colorado venues. At 7 p.m. Thursday, the band headlines the Fillmore to show off tunes from its latest CD, Sci Fi Crimes.

"The album debuted at the top of the 'Billboard' charts," drummer Sam Loeffler said. "It's a pretty cohesive collection of hard-rock songs that shows a natural evolution to the band.

"We're also proud that our bass player (Dean Bernardini) did the cover art work with the UFO. We're using it on all our T-shirts, drumheads and passes. We're more into the science of Sci Fi, but we thought this cover would be fun."