BY WYNDHAM LEWIS

WERS, Emerson College's outstanding radio station, has developed a curious habit of late.  During the past six months or so, interspersed between the requisite Radiohead, MGMT and Animal Collective, has been a healthy dose of Dylan, Bob Marley, Van Morrison and Grateful Dead album cuts.  Of course, with the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Conor Obert and others artfully mining the 1967-1973 rock canon there is a chicken and egg question: are the undergrads manning the boards at college stations doing genealogy research on their new favorite artists, or are the grandchildren of the Woodstock crowd who are growing up on both mom's punk and grandma's folk simply playing what they like? 

Blitzen Trapper, who sold out the Paradise, join a growing number of bands including My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses that are further confusing matters by blurring that long-delineated line between indie-rock and freedom rock.  What was once as clear as Lollapalooza v. HORDE, PBR talls v. blueberry wheat ale, barely nodding your head v. snake dancing and B.O. v. B.O. + patchouli is now a bearded middle ground that represents the high points of both genres.

Let's call it heavy hippie.

Appropriately accused of genre hopping in the past, Portland (Oregon) sextet Blitzen Trapper has found a sound, and on Furr, their stellar 2008 release, they have produced their most cohesive effort.  Nearly every song on the album was played at the show and as a result the band's set was nicely varied rather than more schizophrenic sets in years past. 

The evening was kick-started with a 1-2 punch of "Fires and Fast Bullets" and "Saturday Night," both of which were more rollicking than on record and the band's multi-guitar/multi-keyboard arrangement showcased both the ability to achieve and control volume.  Like their aforementioned peers Fleet Foxes and Band of Horses, Blitzen Trapper put a premium on vocal harmonies and this helped make new album tracks like "Sleepytime in the Western World" and "Gold for Bread" more full-bodied live.  Lead singer/guitarist Eric Earley was accompanied on nearly every song with excellent backing vocals from drummer Brian Adrian Koch and guitarist Marty Marquis (whose name and look make him appear to be a refugee from a Blue Oyster Cult album jacket ("I've got a fever...")).

Eric Earley could pass for the love child of Jonathan Richman and Harry Dean Stanton and his songs carry the whimsy and grit that could convincingly make him a descendent of either.  "Furr" and "Not Your Lover Anymore" are stripped down and beautiful, the prior, in lesser hands, could easily be catastrophic rather than the incredibly touching allegorical Byrds-y ballad of a boy turned wolf.  The latter recalls the best and most aching Wilco songs and is a simple heart-breaking ode to withering love and was sung by Koch, Marquis and Earley while the others took a backstage break.  Each song was a showcase for Earley's writing talents and both were show highlights.

The evening's lone misstep was a too-lengthy Pink Floyd-sounding psych-rock freak out that sapped a bit of momentum about ¾'s of the way through the set.  They rebounded well from that particular dead zone with a downtempo "Wild Mountain Nation" and a full throttle "Devil's a Go-Go." Ultimately, we were sent packing with an amped up "Miss Spiritual Tramp," and the next day when I heard Phoenix' "1901" followed by "Friend of the Devil" I didn't even give it a thought.

[Photo Credit: Jade Harris]