Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, the two who make up the wall of sound duo Mates of State , met in Lawrence, Kansas in 1997. Three months later, they were working together, and involved personally. Four years later, they were married, and living in San Francisco. It’s a perfect fairy tale, with a rock and roll backbeat, and multiple rhythms running on multiple simultaneous tracks, that gives it a kind of fantastic reverberation. It’s one that’s sweet and sometimes bitter, where the irony of the presentation starts to gently but shockingly give way to a more poignant meaning right beneath the surface.

There might be two ideal places to hear them perform, then, either in Kansas or in California, and fans will get the opportunity in June, when they play two nights at the Great American Music Hall as June turns into July. Keeping in mind that the coldest winter is sometimes spent in San Francisco in the summer, out of town guests should dress warm, just in case, but also dress fashionably, just because it’s always a good idea. A stylish hotel in San Francisco is a perfect temporary home for seeing this perfectly wonderful band.

Lawrence and San Francisco have a lot in common, actually, and a move from there to here, in the name of making a name, is a logical, and sublime progression. Lawrence is one of the great unsung funky cities in the country, where alternative culture that is radically interesting and absolutely thriving pops up suddenly and without warning. The people there are about as interesting a collection of subcultures one can meet anywhere, with the possible exception of, well, San Francisco.

That part of their story also serves as a running track, and makes the music even more perfect. The pieces fit together, and they also don’t quite fit, where a lovely balance is always poised on the edges of a little bit of heartbreak, the price you pay for following the path with the heart.

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