Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Penelope,” feat. Shara Worden
“This Is What You’re Like”
Playing at: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St., Greenwich Village)
Get: Tickets ($12)| Directions

In classical music, a “song cycle” is a sequence of thematic vocal works, or lieder, by the same composer--the pre-20th Century version of the concept album. Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Penelope” is a song-cycle for the indie rock generation. Her songs are performed by Shara Worden, the opera-trained singer of the indie band My Brightest Diamond, and the duo's strings-and-drums setting carefully treads the boundary between classical and rock. This song, “This is What You’re Like,” recalls another art-song songstress*. But it also, recalls the drama of those Romantic-era lieder too.

*Hint: Rhymes with Stork