ACL Live Shot: Divine Fits

Butch & Sundance: Boeckner (left) and Daniel leading Divine Fits (by Shelley Hiam)

With debut A Thing Called Divine Fits out a year, Britt Daniel looks perfectly natural onstage with Dan Boeckner. They’re no longer a supergroup, just a regular band with a lot of grooves.

If anything, the band’s hour-long ACL Fest set on Sunday proved that Divine Fits will be more than a momentary concern.

The Spoon frontman still looks handsome in a white button-up, while Boeckner remains in good spirits, recovering well from whatever the hell happened with Handsome Furs – the band that he and his wife led, which announced a sudden, implication-heavy breakup in the middle of last year. Friends, rock music, and sexy guitars: Divine Fits exudes a crisp, casual hipness that’s fit for the iconoclast.

There’s one album, so the setlist was uncomplicated: “My Love is Real,” “The Salton Sea,” and “Would That Not Be Nice.” If you spent any time with Divine Fits over the last 12 months, you were sated. You can’t fault routine when it’s this efficient.

The one curve ball? A gorgeous, stuttering cover of silky Frank Ocean ballad “Lost.” Well-rehearsed and not the slightest bit ironic, Daniel’s rasp has always carved a soulful lilt. If that’s the path he’s eyeing, we should expect great things.