WBRS hosted and broadcasted free live music twice last week from the Shapiro Campus Center, with a full-band performance on Wednesday evening's The Joint program and an acoustic one on Friday afternoon's Coffeehouse. Local musicians Dana Mier and Matt McCluskey played sets, and although both performances were lightly attended, they both showcased two vastly different singer/songwriters.Boston native Mier played Wednesday's show with her band, promoting her recent album Reflection with an hour-long set. Alternating between simple, acoustic folk songs and rhythm-driven pop/rock, Mier sang with the strong range of Jewel and the girlishness of Lisa Loeb, her band frequently throwing back to mid-90s alternative rock. With no more than a handful of fans in attendance, the show felt more like a jam session or rehearsal, the band members standing in a circle and facing each other as they played.

"We're going to start out with an acoustic-y song," Meir announced as the band began with Reflection's title track, the first of several numbers combining drum-driven melodies with Mier's folk sensibility. During those first few songs, which also included "One Time More" and "My Mind Says," drummer Eric Kelly seemed too loud for his band mates, his thundering style often overpowering guitarist Andy Rooney's riffs and solos.

Though bland at times, Mier at least displayed her versatility well, especially while playing "Perfect." To use Mier's term, it was a light-hearted "ditty," exploring themes of love and independence. Although juvenile, Mier balanced the innocence of lighter songs like "Perfect" with the angst and empowerment of a set of distortion-laden songs. With "Deny My Heart," her personal favorite, she was transformed from Lisa Loeb to Patti Smith. As she continued with the defiant "If Only If" and "Built You," this proved to be the most exciting portion of the show. However, the band seemed to wear its influences on its sleeve again. The most indicative of this vice were several of Rooney's E-Bow solos, none of which would have sounded out of place on The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream or any other album from the mid-90s canon.

Wisely winding down the show with a couple of ballads, Mier changed themes one last time with the grateful "Faith," written the day after the catastrophic fire during a Great White concert in Westwarwick,R.I., a show she nearly attended. And portraying a different strength, she contemplated heartbreak with the closer, "Down for Loving You," capping off a slightly inconsistent, yet eclectic performance for WBRS.

Playing acoustically two days later, Matt McCluskey opened like Nick Drake, barely plucking his guitar as he explored the higher octaves of his vocal range.

"Why don't we go where we know we should go?" he asked in the second song, delightfully mirroring the Britpop of early Oasis and The Charlatans. Yet the performance soon fell short, never quite hitting the stride set by his opening numbers. Most unfortunately, McCluskey seemed to favor a gravelly post-Nirvana growl over the nearly angelic voice he used in early songs. Even though a few glimmers of an original singer/songwriter occasionally shone through, he largely conformed to the norms of modern hard rock, albeit acoustically. As a result, the set was mostly boring, and even passers-by grabbing a free bagel consistently left several minutes after walking into the room.

He explained that many of the songs had been written for a band that had never gotten off the ground, accounting for much of the set's awkwardness. Accordingly, songs like "Life's Hopeful Hands" and "A Better Way" seemed as out of place, as they were unoriginal, burdened further by forced lyrics like "Your heart ain't worth much when it's stashed beneath your bed."

Yet, McCluskey's set was not without merit, and even excluding his opening songs, there were a few memorable moments. He innocently entertained boyhood memories in "Firefly," and impressively played a rapid arpeggiated guitar hook in "Purple, Green and Blue." Introduced as a new song, "7 a.m. Sidewalk Serenade" was a traditional folk song in the vein of Simon and Garfunkel, interestingly changing tempos throughout the song as McCluskey whistled between verses. He thanked WBRS for having him, closing after an hour with "Tearing a Hole in the Sky.