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Review: Two become one as the Milk Carton Kids offer top-notch harmonies and humor at the Majestic

Though they've performed and recorded together for only half a decade as the Milk Carton Kids, California folk musicians Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan offer tunes that recall no particular time period or single musical style. Evidence of their timelessness and incredible skill was abundant throughout a 90-minute headlining performance at the Majestic on Friday night.

Friday's was one of the last shows of a characteristically stripped down tour that found Pattengale and Ryan hovering around a single microphone, finger-picking the same two acoustic guitars all night and achieving such close, precise harmonies that they sounded like brothers.

At this point the friends and bandmates are familiar and road-weary enough to engage in banter that suggests they're kinfolk. That's what made the spoken segments of the Milk Carton Kids' concert nearly as satisfying as the music.

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Ryan was the more expressive of the two between songs, deadpanning inherently funny observations and stories in such a way that he wouldn't seem out of place on an indie comedy tour.

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While introducing the gorgeous tune "Charlie," which Pattengale wrote in 2011 for the daughter he wants to have one day, Ryan vamped on the idea of congratulating someone on a new baby.

"I don't understand celebrating an achievement that is really very commonplace," he said with nary a smirk. Cue raucous laughter from the crowd. Yet moments later we were swept up by "Charlie," possibly the sweetest parent-to-child tune since "Danny's Song."

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Pattengale for the most part let Ryan handle the comedy, choosing to quietly pick his guitar and make bemused facial expressions. He got his share of laughs though, especially when poking fun at how his duo is perceived and described by music writers.

"They always compare us to Simon and Garfunkel," Pattengale said, "and that's OK, because they are the best." He then pointed at his bandmate, who's about a head taller then him. "It's also OK because we obviously know which one would be Garfunkel."

Ryan had his retort ready to go: "I feel like the audience is on your side now."

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It's interesting that they brought up the Simon & Garfunkel comparisons, because that's the influence you'd naturally point out in songs such as the newly-Grammy-nominated "The City of Our Lady," from the Kids' latest album Monterey.

But close and high harmonies don't belong to any one act, whether it be the Louvins, the Everlys or Welch and Rawlings. Ryan and Pattengale easily match all those beloved performers in delivering harmonic perfection. They've worked endlessly on perfecting said delivery since a few years ago when they were coming through Dallas playing coffee shops and Poor David's Pub.

Ryan's picking provides the rhythmic foundation while his vocal delivery offers welcome lyrical clarity. Beside him, Pattengale fidgets endlessly and picks out impressively complicated, breakneck melodies on his six-string. He must have some serious calluses.

Although his picking frenzies were too enmeshed with Ryan's playing to come off as guitar solos, they still garnered frequent spontaneous applause on Friday. And Pattengale's voice was equally thrilling when he sang solo on a couple of tunes including "Sing, Sparrow, Sing." He has a lilting quality to his voice that allows the end of each line to smolder.

The setlist took liberally from the most recent two Milk Carton records, the aforementioned Monterey, from this year, and 2013's The Ash & Clay.

From the Adele-level romantic regret of "Shooting Shadows" to the celebratory bluegrass vibes of "Honey, Honey," Ryan and Pattengale never truly faltered musically. And thanks to their end-of-tour delirium on stage, the adoring crowd was able to laugh as much as it swooned. I'd call that a win-win.

Set list:

"Hope of a Lifetime"

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"Shooting Shadows"

"The City of Our Lady"

"Charlie"

"The Ash & Clay"

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"Asheville Skies"

"Heaven"

"Memphis"

"Sing, Sparrow, Sing"

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"Monterey"

"Honey, Honey"

"Snake Eyes"

"I Still Want a Little More"

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Encore:

"New York"

"Wish You Were Here" (a breathtaking cover version of the Pink Floyd classic)