Two concerts. Two nights. Three bands. This Wednesday and Thursday will witness three up-and-coming indie rock acts, all appearing within a mile of the Washington University campus.

Tonight, The Pageant, a venue which has been bringing in increasingly well known acts (see Wilco in mid-March), welcomes the lesser-known singer-songwriter Andrew Bird. Though Bird has produced five albums in the past eight years, he failed to garner much public attention until last year’s “Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs.” The rather odd title was meant to mirror Bird’s unique musical style. Rather than hammering his listeners with dramatic guitars and soft percussion – though these things no doubt exist – Bird specializes in two arts now lost on the traditional singer-songwriter.

A violinist since age four and a whistler since age five, he performs songs filled with a rich texture of plucked strings and cupped lips. His whistling ability is no joke. A quick listen to the irresistible “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” reveals some of the best pop music whistling in recent memory. The Pageant’s acoustics, no doubt, will be even more conducive to his Bird calls.

On Thursday, the Gargoyle Committee is bringing in the Canadian indie-rock band Stars. For those who follow the Canadian music scene, Stars is an almost inevitable creation. Descending from Montreal, the group 1. is on the Arts and Crafts record label, representing an offshoot of what is now the super-group Broken Social Scene, 2. features male and female vocalists – watch out for that harmony! – with the female slightly exceeding the male in vocal beauty and 3. produces pop music so innocent and energetic (lots of keyboards), you’d have to expect a northern origin. Last year’s “Set Yourself on Fire” and 2003′s “Heart” produced electric chamber pop music easily on par with other well established Canadian indie outfits such as Metric and The New Pornographers. What has separated Stars is its penchant for creatively titled opening tracks. “Heart” began with the awfully cute “What the Snowman Learned about Love,” while “Set Yourself on Fire” showed the band’s more sadistic side: they titled their first song,”Your Ex-Lover is Dead.”

Opening for Stars is the emerging and buzzworthy California band The Elected. Headed by singer-songwriter and former Rilo Kiley member Blake Sennett, The Elected manages to interestingly combine a country and western twang with traditional indie-rock sound. Call them a Bright Eyes (the comparisons to Conor Oberst are numerous) for the south. The band is touring off their January release, “Sun, Sun, Sun.”

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