When Deer Tick comes to Urban Lounge on Halloween, they should come as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — a reflection of the two sides of the band that will be crystal clear that night and is distinct in its new release.
When Deer Tick emerged in the mid-2000s, they were cut from the folk and alt-country cloth, with frontman John McCauley’s distinctive nasally, sandpaper voice belting out sounds reminiscent of Blitzen Trapper, My Morning Jacket and Old 97s.
Since then, the band has gone through a transformation, infusing its sound with roots-rock and cow-punk influences.
Deer Tick’s live shows over the years, like their 2013 set that I was lucky enough to catch at Urban Lounge, would wind from crazed foot stompers to mellow shoe-gazers and everything in between.
Their newest two-volume, self-titled release — as well as their show Tuesday night — serves sort of as bookends for that journey. Deer Tick Vol. 1 stays true to those sincere beginnings as folky songwriters, while Deer Tick Vol. 2 offers a more raucous vibe.
On Vol. 1, you get songs like “Sea of Clouds,” which sounds like it could be taken right off of their debut album War Elephant, and folky finger-picked guitar on bleak-titled tracks like “Rejection” and “Doomed From The Start.”
Vol. 2 has the heavy, guitar-driven, Nirvana-ish jams like “It’s A Whale,” while tracks like “Tiny Fortunes” seem to tip a hat to Elvis Costello and “Wants/Needs” has a Tom Petty feel.
The Jekyll-and-Hyde duality of the Providence, R.I.-born and Nashville-based band will be on display in the two-set evening they are calling “Twice Is Nice: An Evening With Deer Tick,” with one featuring the acoustic tunes and the other the electric energy.
“On the earlier albums, I was more sonically obsessed with folk music,” McCauley said in a recent Rolling Stone interview. “Then the punk stuff started to rear its ugly head on our records. We became this band where you never knew what you were going to get on any given night.”
Does deconstructed Deer Tick work in a live setting as brilliantly as the original? That remains to be seen. Everyone loves a Reese’s, but we’ll have to see if it works as well when it’s chocolate, then peanut butter.
If you want to find out for yourself, tickets are $23 and still available at urbanloungeslc.com. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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