Over the course of four albums, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have charted a path very different from their contemporaries in modern alternative rock, moving away from Beach Boys-inspired pop sensibilities and adolescent emotional posturing and instead taking their cues from the darker side of 60s psychedelia and late-80s shoegazer acts like Slowdive and the Jesus & Mary Chain.

It's the Jesus & Mary Chain, in fact, that BRMC most strongly evokes on their new album, Baby 81. It's a return to amplified form after the rootsy quietude of their third album, Howl. Like the brothers Reid, BRMC have found a way to mix the experimental noise drone of Galaxie 69 and the Velvet Underground and mesh it with a dark, bluesy tone that's reminiscent of early Rolling Stones.

But where the Jesus & Mary Chain was all about the stripped-down aesthetic, Black Rebel layers their songs with lush psychedelic guitar lines that build up to a wall of sound that moves from menace to exhilaration so subtly that you don't really notice it happening. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are better musicians, technically, than a lot of their obvious influences, and it would be easy to slip into big prog-rock wankery or pyrotechnics to display their ability. But they don't; they use their talent and abilities to extend the sound they love without betraying it or turning it into a technical exercise. It's that restraint that makes them more than just another retro band wearing their heroes on their sleeves.

So skip those last eight shots on Sunday night -- you're going to need your strength!

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Monday, July 28th @ Beauty Bar