Before every show, band members of Mangosteen like to take a swig from a bottle of the similarly named juice, Snapple’s Peach Mangosteen.

No, they don’t have an advertising deal with Snapple. They are by no means big enough for that.

But they will be.

The alternative soul band played Thursday night at The Social Room, Columbia’s underground music venue, along with Grapevine Fires and Soul Glo. From the time the first notes hit, the audience was jamming to a young band with a complicated style and soul beyond their years.

Vocalist and drummer Spencer Westphalen says that the band’s intense sound comes from the players’ shared roots in jazz. Keyboard player Michael Miller, guitarist Colby Johnson, bassist Grant Flakne and Westphalen met at MU’s School of Music.

“All of it has a very common root in jazz,” Westphalen says of Mangosteen. “We all come from very different backgrounds, but overall it’s groovy, it’s funky, it’s very lively.”

Mangosteen’s sound is smooth and transcendental, reminiscent of Pink Floyd or Hall and Oates. Mangosteen covered the latter band’s “I Can’t Go For That” expertly. Crowd members were drawn from the bar, attracted to the stage to join in the dancing and swaying Mangosteen generated.

At times, audience members were standing on benches to get a better view of Miller and Johnson, ripping extraordinary solos on the keyboard and guitar.

Although Thursday night’s emphasis was on headliner Mangosteen, the theme of local music was upheld by the first two bands, Soul Glo and Grapevine Fires.

For Grapevine Fires band member Damon Mitchell, the most important aspect of their intimate and acoustic performance is the songwriting.

“We would like to bring back the craftsmanship the music from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s had,” Mitchell says.

That step back in time to borrow old beats and styles in order to create a new sound is what made the show great. It’s what excellent musicians have been doing since the beginning of music, and will continue to do as different trends develop.

At the brim of an incredible music trend is Mangosteen, and Columbia residents would be smart to get in on it before it’s too cool.

“I imagine one day, if we ever make it far enough, that some future 40-year-old is gonna be telling his son, ‘Yeah, man, I saw ‘The Steen’ back in the day,’” Westphalen says.

**Mangosteen’s first single “She’s a Lady” will be released on Spotify and iTunes May 6.**

_Edited by Katie Rosso | krosso@themaneater.com_