Narration grounds eclectic band

Breaking from electronic rock to romantic serenades to folksy storytelling, Blitzen Trapper's eclectic stylings bridge musical genres.

"The songs go from full six-piece to a guitar and three-part harmony to a piano ballad with a harmonica to kind of pavement, hard rock stuff," guitarist and vocalist Eric Earley said.

The sextet will cover their fourth album, "Furr," and a few songs from their third album, "Wild Mountain Nation," tonight at the Orange Peel, as they open for indie icon Iron and Wine.

The sound in their latest album embodies the band's current direction, according to Earley.

"It's a full sound with acoustic guitar and three-part harmony, whereas 'Wild Mountain Nation' is definitely like that lo-fi kind of garage-rock sound," Earley said.

Although "Furr" reflects their current style, Blitzen Trapper consistently jumps from sound to sound, trying many different combinations to create different auditory themes.

"I don't like to do the same thing twice. The record that comes next is not going to be like 'Furr.' There'll be echoes of it, just like there were echoes of 'Wild Mountain Nation' on 'Furr,' but it won't be the same kind of thing at all," Earley said. "I always envision these records as being like a totally different scene."

Despite their music's continuous flow from style to style, the songs' topics consistently reflect social themes through a narrative, symbolic style.

"I try to deal with the important subjects: love, death, God - the things that people care about. I tell stories a lot of times with the song," Earley said. "The way I was directed before, like with 'Wild Mountain Nation,' had a lot to do with singing about where I'm from, about Oregon and about living there and growing up there."

Despite songs like "God and Suicide" and "Furr" (with the lyric "my bouts … turned to instinct and obedience to God"), Blitzen Trapper does not sing solely Christian music. The songs focus on the theme of God, not on specific religious propaganda, according to Earley.

"For me, God is the idea of God, and mankind's there to figure out exactly who He is or what that means or where He is or what He wants. It seems like that's one of the most important subjects to sing about and has been sung about throughout the history of American music and folk music," Earley said. "It also ties in with the subjects of love and death. Any song that deals with God is going to deal with those subjects as well, and vice versa."

The versatility in Blitzen Trapper's musical delivery allows them to tour with many different types of musicians. This year, the band toured with rock band Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and indie band Horse Feathers.

Currently, they're touring with Iron and Wine.

"I think it's a weird tour, to be honest. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing how those guys (Iron and Wine) play and seeing how our music fits in with that. We'll definitely tailor to fit, to a certain extent," Earley said.

On this tour, the band is playing approximately the same set for each performance.

However, they may play a few different songs to cater to each show's audience. For their shows with Iron and Wine, they may focus more on their acoustic indie flavor, while for their tour with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks they allowed more of their rock touch to play out.

The contrasting medley of faces in a Blitzen Trapper audience parallels the band's diverse sound.

"We just kind of seem to appeal to everybody, from high school girls to like 87-year-old black women in Columbus, Ohio," Earley said.

Check out Blitzen Trapper's Web site at blitzentrapper.net

Or listen to samples of their music at www.myspace.com/blitzentrapper

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