Reaching the end of their North American tour, Blitzen Trapper returned to Boston this month to promote their latest album "Destroyer of the Void" at the newly renovated Paradise Rock Club.
The Portland-bred indie band can be characterized as mellow, woodsy rock, a vibe that can be attributed to influences such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan and The Band. Their particular sound, a mixture of folk and classic rock revival, is fairly popular on the West Coast where the band first gained their following. However, the Nov. 4 show proved that the band's East Coast fans are just as devoted.
The Paradise Rock Club was filled with Boston listeners who faithfully made the trek through the rain and gloom to see one of the band's last North American performances before they take their tour overseas.
Opening for Blitzen Trapper was Boston's own Faces on Film, promoting their new album "Some Weather." Unfortunately, the Beantown band gave a lackluster performance that seemed difficult for even them to sit through.
Their intended cool and calm disposition translated into a lethargic set, made all the worse by the lead singer's unfortunate inability to enunciate his lyrics. Ten minutes into the show, the crowd had already lost interest and the sound of chattering voices and shuffling feet started to drown out the music. Faces on Film exited rather dejectedly, leaving the audience impatiently awaiting the headliner.
Luckily, Blitzen Trapper's enigmatic stage presence and energetic introduction provided a stark and relieving contrast to the supporting act. Their 75-minute set started off with the loud, appropriately named track "Fire & Fast Bullets" from their celebrated album "Furr" (2008). Bringing the audience out of their stupor, three of the six band members enthusiastically strummed their guitars while singing back-up vocals for frontman Eric Earley. The sound was tight, loud and swift, immediately setting the tone for what would be an interactive and gratifying show.
Rather than relying solely on new material to maintain the audience's attention, Blitzen Trapper demonstrated their confidence in the strength of their past three albums by honoring each with a few songs. The band followed up "Fire & Fast Bullets" with a smooth transition to "Laughing Lover," a slightly slower ballad off of "Destroyer of the Void".
While maintaining perfect vocal harmonies, Blitzen Trapper weaved effortlessly from old western sounds to more prog-rock vibes. The crowd swooned over the band's most well-known tracks, "Black River Killer" and "Furr," but responded equally as enthusiastically to new, unheard material such as "Takin' It Easy Too Long" — a song that has yet to grace an album.
Blitzen Trapper personalized the set by adding brief interjections about walking through Boston in autumn, their past experiences in the city and even an anecdote about Marty Marquis's (guitar/keyboard/vocals) endeavor to write a song about how Portland was almost named Boston. "I like to write historical, geographical songs," Marty said to the crowd, and indeed, Blitzen Trapper's lyrics are far from weepy proclamations of unrequited love.
The title-track "Furr" is an eloquently written tale about a boy who is raised by wolves and abandons civilization in favor of nature. Despite Earley's unusual topic choices for his lyrics, the audience had no problem remembering the lines to "Furr," and sang perfectly in sync with the frontman's Bob Dylan-worthy performance.
The sextet demonstrated the breadth of their talent by continuously switching between instruments, occasionally including harmonicas, maracas and "nature" recordings to vary their sound. For the song "Jericho," Earley even relented his mic to Marquis's vocals, which proved to be almost as enjoyable as the frontman's. The effect of such diversity was the creation of a sound that exceeded their actual recordings. Surely for all witnesses of the show, Blitzen Trapper's albums will seem pale and quiet in comparison to their lively performance.
Towards the end of the set, Marquis tempted the audience by saying, "Well, they decided to let me do my Boston song … no, I'm just joking … but mark my words, next time, everybody." Your words are marked, Marty. Boston fans can't wait to hear it.
