I really like Throw Me the Statue's album, Moonbeams. A lot. So it bothers me to say that, based on the band's performance at the Middle East Upstairs last Tuesday, they need some practice.The band consists of Scott Reitherman, a Seattle lo-fi artist who began recording in 2004, and four recently acquired musicians on guitar, bass, drum machine, glockenspiel, what-have-you, to record Moonbeams and to go on the group's first tour, which began Feb. 22, just days after the Feb. 19 release of the album on Secretly Canadian Records.

The album seems to be doing quite well for itself in the world of indie music media. The band's appearance (itself an indie music rite of passage) in the online live music video series Take-Away Shows, from the site LaBlogotheque.com, was profiled on the music media juggernaut

Pitchforkmedia.com in February. There's a reason for the band's success: The album is catchy, but not simple or shallow. The songs are all similarly melodic, but the wide range of instrumentation and use of samples keeps the songs from sounding the same. The band has been compared to the Shins and Guided by Voices, and I suppose those comparisons are legitimate. The combination of layered instrumental passages with strong, meandering melodies certainly finds a parallel in the Shins' music.

But I'm not sure I would have understood how good the songs are after hearing just their live performance. Their rather awkward stage presence dissipated somewhat after the first two or three songs, but the extensive rambling and talking between songs continued until the end of the set. I thought the band's ramblings were charming and hilarious, but they belied the group's apparent uncertainty as to how to conduct themselves in front of an audience.

Reitherman's electronic keyboard took center stage as he and the other three non-drummers stood in a line at the front of the stage like a kids in a lunch line. A prerecorded backing track on the keyboard provided the basis for a cover of Beat Happening's "Knick Knack," from the 1989 record Black Candy. The goofy '80s sound of the synthesizer sounded cool with the sort of punk-ish song. The song itself suited the band quite well: As they walked around the stage shouting the song's repetitive chorus into the microphones, it seemed like the guys were having a really great time, as well as fulfilling every concertgoer's wish-for a good cover. Concertgoers didn't have to be familiar with Beat Happening to enjoy TMTS' rendition of the fun, energetic song.

After the cover came "About to Walk," which is the catchiest song on the album. The energy from the previous song carried over into this one, as one member hopped around the stage clacking together two drumsticks. Unfortunately, this was the last song of the set. As the men laid down their melodicas and left the stage, I was ready for more exuberant, shouty songs.

The recently formed group is clearly very new to performing. However, all of the elements are there. I'd like to see how the band develops-given the quality of Reitherman's songwriting, it seems like a few more weeks of touring might be just what the band needs to bring its live show up to the level that the songs deserve.