By Andrew Katchen, Globe Correspondent, 1/8/2004

Nate Borofsky, Doris Muramatsu and Tammy Greenstein went from sharing an apartment to forming the group Girlyman.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- For a Brooklyn-based group, Girlyman doesn't sound much like a New York band. At least the kind of caffeinated, manic hipster outfit many commonly associate with the city's celebrated music scene. Preferring lazy, acoustic melodies, delicate percussion, and shimmering three-part vocal harmonies to icy electroclash or the dissonant intersection of disco and punk, Girlyman is something of a city anomaly.

"The reason we leave New York is to play shows. For acoustic music, you can't make a living just playing in the city," laments singer/guitarist Nate Borofsky. The thin, bleach-blond Acton native and the remaining members of Girlyman, singer/percussionist Tammy Greenstein and singer/guitarist Doris Muramatsu, are sampling Middle Eastern fare in an empty restaurant here, a stopover before a private gig at a friend's house near Philadelphia. (Girlyman plays at Club Passim tonight.)

"It's hard to build a following in New York," says Greenstein. "When we were starting off and trying to get people to come to our shows, it was like [saying] to everyone 'call all of your friends.' "

Girlyman's strategy of playing gigs beyond Brooklyn's borders, partly based on economic necessity, has begun to pay dividends. Since forming, the band has performed in front of 15,000 people during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in upstate New York. And recently, the trio won the folk/singer-songwriter category in the 3rd Annual Independent Music Awards for the song "Viola," featured on the band's debut 2003 disc "Remember Who I Am." With this accolade under its belt, Girlyman can now consider judges Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, the Kinks' Ray Davies, and Joan Baez official fans.

"It's very cool to think of them in their car listening to Girlyman," says Greenstein.

Perhaps in response to New York's inescapable and colossal buzz, Girlyman crafts music meant for the laziest Sunday morning or a summer night spent sipping wine on a front porch or fire escape. Songs such as the mandolin peppered "David" or the beautifully stark "The Shape I Found You In" are the aural equivalent of an old curtain trembling in a gentle breeze. The warm yet fragile male and female vocal melodies recall '90s indie trio Ida as well as Peter, Paul and Mary and Nickel Creek. The lyrical gravity of songs such as "Say Goodbye" or "Viola," which are both moody elegies to dead acquaintences, belies the playful, childish nature of the band name, which grew out of a joke.

"We really wanted to work with girly men," says Greenstein.

"As soon as Tammy said that," Muramatsu says, "we realized the name Girlyman instantly jelled with our identity."

Although the band formed in late 2001, its history goes back further. Childhood friends Greenstein and Muramatsu hooked up with Borofsky while studying at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. After graduating in 1996, Greenstein and Muramatsu performed in the fledgling folk duo the Garden Verge while Borofsky returned to Boston in 1997 to pursue a solo singer-songwriter career -- he won a 2001 Boston Music Award in the best new singer-songwriter category. The three often shared bills on the folk circuit, and a chance trip to play a show in Atlanta helped give rise to the trio.

"We were so bored on [that] trip, so we just decided to sing something," says Muramatsu. "So we had this rental car, and I started playing guitar in the back seat. We started playing one of Nate's songs, and we sang it in three-part harmonies and we thought it sounded really good. So that became our new thing, and whenever we played on the same bill [with Borofsky], we'd play that song together."

Supporting himself in Boston as a freelance Web designer, Borofsky relocated to Brooklyn in 2001 to share an apartment and practice space with Greenstein and Muramatsu. Soon after, the two dissolved the Garden Verge after years of scant gigs, declining interest, and troubled recording sessions with their studio. "We thought to ourselves that there wasn't any point in doing something if it wasn't fun," says Muramatsu. "With [the Garden Verge] we really weren't having that much fun, and Nate wasn't really having that much fun as a solo performer either."

Collaborating has again made performing a joy, and their chemistry has helped ease the pressures that have accompanied the band's growth.

"Whenever we start taking ourselves too seriously, we just think, 'We're Girlyman,' " Muramatsu says, laughing.

Girlyman and We're About 9 perform tomorrow Thursday, Jan. 8 at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Doors are at 8. Tickets are $12 for nonmembers, $10 for members. For ticket reservations, call 617-492-7679 or go to www.clubpassim.org.

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