The Story, a female duo from Boston, is the kind of act that might allow a couple of minutes for the discussion of errant hairdos--as in "I'm having a bad hair life"--and then segue without a pause into, "So this song is about death."
The levity at the Story's show on Sunday at the Troubadour was mostly between the songs, not in them. Their lyrics usually cover what singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke grudgingly admitted were "the big topics"--i.e., God, church, death, female oppression and self-suppression, mothers and daughters, more death and dogs. Fortunately, Brooke is an adept enough writer that even her heaviest-themed numbers generally avoid heavy-handedness with a certain winning buoyancy of tune and/or spirit.
