One of the laziest – albeit useful – fallback devices utilized by music journalists is the ol’ “describe an artist’s sound by listing other artists that contain similar sonic elements” tactic.

For example: “(So and so) sounds like the love child of Bob Dylan and the Carpenters if they were living with Slipknot.”

I don’t actually know of a band that sounds like the above description, although it’s not a bad recipe if you’re thinking of starting a music career. Perhaps the worst part of that, though, is when the journalist trots out “love child of.” “Love child of” was stupid the first time it was employed* and by now can properly be thought of as the “stomach-surgery-with-no-anesthesia” of metaphors.

This reminds me: the Silks are playing Thursday in New London’s Hygienic Art Park as the latest in the free Downtown Live! concert series.

WHAT?! You’re never heard of the Silks? You’ll like them! They’re from Providence and sound like the Georgia Satellites if they shared a tour bus with the Drive-By Truckers for the express purpose of creating a love child they’d name Savoy Brown.

*In 1735, a music critic wrote that the new composer Fritz “Sauerkraut” Trinkenmilker was writing music as though “he was the love child of Vivaldi and Handel.”

The Silks, 6 p.m. Thursday, Hygienic Art Park, 79 Bank St., New London; Downtown Live!; free; www.downtownnewlondonassociation.com.