Preview: Fruit Bats with Death Vessel at The Mohawk

Eric Johnson, the sole constant member of Seattle via Chicago’s Fruit Bats, cut his teeth as a touring member of the windy city’s excellent ramshackle avant-folk combo Califone, and released the first Fruit Bats album, Echolocation, in 2001. On the strength of that album, the group signed to Sub Pop and released Mouthfuls in 2003; a huge leap forward for Johnson in terms of the refinement of his songwriting and vocal arrangements, Mouthfuls saw him performing most of the music. The record earned the band a good bit of attention, Johnson's harmonizing with former member Gillian Lisée especially winning over early fans and critics. Their second Sub Pop LP Spelled in Bones followed roughly the same template in 2005, so when setting out to write and record its follow-up, the just-released The Ruminant Band, Johnson purposefully loosened his grip on the performance aspect of the record, choosing instead to trust the talents of the players he’d assembled.

The result is an airier sounding Fruit Bats album that plays to Johnson’s strengths as a songwriter; the band sounds playful and light on its feet, giving The Ruminant Band a sunny feeling that evokes the folkier side of 70s-era pop rock. Fruit Bats aren’t the most prolific of bands, and since Johnson’s been a full-time member of The Shins for a couple of years now, he doesn’t trot the Fruit Bats out often - and plays Austin even less. Tonight’s show is well worth staying out late on a Wednesday for, with the added attraction of fellow Sub-Poppers Death Vessel, and locals The Low Lows, who’ve been popping up at clubs all over town lately, opening the show. For the early risers among us who don’t make a habit of staying out late on a weeknight, Fruit Bats are also performing a free in-store at Waterloo Records today at 6:00.

Fruit Bats [Official] [MySpace]
Death Vessel [Official] [MySpace]
The Low Lows [Official] [MySpace]