Last night, something momentous happened at JJ’s Bohemia — things actually got going around 10 p.m. (the scheduled start time).

Needless to say, I was floored when the Jim Smithers Band (who were standing in for the AWOL local pop group, Band Legrand) started playing just 15 minutes late.

This was especially remarkable since they were a last minute addition to the bill after Band Legrand backed out. Since I had been expecting to hear Legrand — whose combination of Queen like symphonic arrangements of piano-heavy pop music had me slavering over the prospect of a live show — I spent most of the first hour on the back patio sullenly ignoring the opener in a fit of petulance.

Fortunately, it was cheap beer night, so I was well hydrated by the time the boys from Chapel Hill, N.C., took the stage.

JJ’s co-owner John Shoemaker and I are in complete agreement that Bombadil is an incredibly hard band to define succinctly, and “symphonic, Bolivian influenced folk rock” is about the best I can come up with.

They’re also prone to catching you off guard.

Since I had covered the band for their last performance at Barking Legs Theater in April, I had a copy of their latest album “A Buzz, A Buzz.” Having listened extensively to this, I thought I knew what to expect, but once the music started, I did an audio stumble.

For one thing, the band’s much more energetic live than their album’s bold, broadly blended tracks would lead you to believe. Drummer James Phillips crashes his sticks into the kit like he was driven by pneumatics and multi-instrumentalists Bryan Rahija and Daniel Michalak split their time between rigid upright playing and bending double at the waist like human oil pumpjacks.

In a way, Bombadil’s live performance has a feel of choreography to it. Rahija and Michalak would often jump off stage and face the band, directing the moments of ear-splitting intensity with the up-and-down motion of their guitars (bass and six-string).

As a pretty big fan of “A Buzz, a Buzz,” I was pleasantly surprised by how much of that album made its way into the performance, including my personal favorite, “Julian of Norwich.” Although the music live obviously lacked the mixing quality of its silicon disc counterpart, the increased energy definitely made up for it. I also rediscovered how much I liked the similarities between the voices of Rahija and that of Scott Carney, the lead singer for Louisville-based experimentalists, Wax Fang.

A defining aspect of Bombadil’s music is the inclusion of exotic instruments, and I was concerned the subtle playing of instruments like the zampoña (Andean pan pipes), horn and xylophone would be lost in the increased volume. Fortunately, the solos of those instruments were carefully timed to coincide with silence from the rest of the band — though the ukulele-like charango didn’t make an apperance.

At the end of the night, Rahija was dripping with sweat from the intensity of his on-stage antics, but it seemed like the crowd of 25-30 was pretty well convinced by the performance. According to multi-instrumentalist Stuart Robinson, they’re planning to come back.

The sooner the better, I say.

Comments