Everest – Bowery Electric (New York, NY) – Thursday, April 26, 2012

This Los Angeles roots rock quintet was formed in 2007 by singer/guitarist Russell Pollard, who drummed for Sebadoh on their final album, 1999’s The Sebadoh, and who’s also played with Folk Implosion, Earlimart, Alaska!, and The Watson Twins. I’d lost touch with the band after enjoying their 2008 debut Ghost Notes, released on Neil Young’s Vapor label. That led to an opening slot on Young’s Fall 2008 tour, which also featured Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie as co-openers, and eventually a major label release of their 2010 second LP On Approach, on Warner Bros. Fast forward to 2012, and they’re no longer on Warners, yet are getting ready to release their third album Ownerless in June.

This was the final show of a NYC residency, sponsored by WFUV and Corona Beer, which also included gigs at Brooklyn Bowl, Joe’s Pub, Rockwood Music Hall, The Living Room, and, earlier on this day, a two-song performance at Citi Field prior to the Mets-Marlins game. (The band was also featured in a Corona commercial, which I didn’t know about until I saw it on TV the following evening while watching the Yankees game. I thought I was seeing things when Everest’s familiar faces popped up on my screen!)

Rather than playing older material, the band treated the modest crowd of 35 or so to the upcoming Ownerless from start to finish. (The only other time I can recall seeing a band play an entire new album in sequence, two months before its release date, was when Guided By Voices played Isolation Drills at Bowery Ballroom in February 2001.) On first listen, new songs like “Rapture,” “Hungry Ghost,” and the title track seemed to have a harder bite than the debut’s subtler, more pastoral folk. For the encore, Pollard invited the crowd to dance to On Approach‘s “Let Go,” the song featured in the commercial, and the only non-Ownerless tune played all night. Many enthusiastically took him up on the offer.

Throughout, I marveled at the bearded Pollard’s strong, articulate voice and the intricate, shimmering guitar patterns of Jason Soda and Joel Graves, each coaxed along by the insistent rhythms of bassist Elijah Thompson and drummer Crane. They played with an intensity and conviction that set them apart from other alt-country outfits. Moreover, the tunes sounded convincing; even the occasional, extended Crazy Horse-inspired jam seemed enlivening, not gratuitous. In all, it was a pleasure to finally catch these consummate musicians up close, even if it meant trekking into Manhattan on a rainy Thursday evening.