San Gabriel

From the outside, J&J Spirits on the east side of Austin, Texas, looks like a run-of-the-mill liquor store, located in an old low-rise building and wedged between a dive bar and an alley. On the other side of that alley, of course, is a boutique hotel in a tall, fancy-looking building that feels out of place on the block. Welcome to Austin!

But back to J&J: It is, in fact, a liquor store, but it’s also the birthplace and headquarters for San Gabriel, the ’80s-inspired dream-pop project of super-skilled musician James Bookert. Best known for his role as the banjo player in the bluegrass band Whiskey Shivers, Bookert took a job at J&J because he could work there in between tours and play guitar in between stocking the shelves. With the freedom to write and record his own songs, Bookert went in the opposite direction of the banjo and started making music using a drum machine, electric guitars and synths.

He called the project San Gabriel, and he doesn’t have an album out yet, but the singles he has released are proof that he knows how to craft a tune that is propulsive and ultra-melodic, vaguely nostalgic, new wave but not corny, and dreamy without feeling muddled or listless. Dream-pop music is having a moment, yet few of the biggest bands in the genre do it as well as San Gabriel.

San Gabriel, with Palo Sopraño: 7 p.m. Friday, $10, Silver Moon Brewing, 24 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend, silvermoonbrewing.com.