Built to Spill Plays 'Don't Fear the Reaper' and Other Popular Favorites at Exit/In

Last night, The Spin skipped its usual pre-show cocktail at Gold Rush and headed straight to Exit/In — using history as our sole indicator, we took into account how the elder statesmen of indie rock typically like to get to bed early and thus start their shows on time. Hence the obvious surprise when we strolled in to find Wooden Indian Burial Ground ripping and winding through their first few songs at 9:30 p.m. Firstly, we didn’t know Pacific Northwestern indie mainstays Built to Spill got down like that. Secondly, we didn’t know how Wooden Indian Burial Ground got down at all.

Though it was still very early in WIBG's set, instrumental interludes were already budding, swelling and sprawling into indefinite free-form jams at the hands of this Portland power trio. It was clear almost from the get go that melody and hooks aren’t particularly a priority with these guys. Rather, after each song's opening riff, the rhythm section locked down the groove with a death grip as singer-guitarist Justin Fowler hammered a mutilated shred over the top of it, bending and beating the strings of his guitar to create a menacing surf jive that sounded like some mutated spawn of Dick Dale and Sonic Youth. What often started as a fuzzy stoner-pop tune or a jerky, psychedelic New Wave jam would inevitably drift into a dreamy, textural abyss of gurgling, sweeping synthesizer tones that seemed to be controlled from inside an old suitcase.

It was damn near 11 p.m. (aka Sebadoh’s bed time) when Built to Spill took to the stage to a mostly over-30 but definitely under-50 crowd that had swelled in size considerably since we walked in the door. We struggled to find some empty floorspace in the back of the room when, perhaps keeping with the jammy theme of the night, the band kicked off with what seemed like an unlikely opener, “Going Against Your Mind” — the eight-and-a-half-minute opening odyssey from 2006’s You in Reverse. While

was still arranging itself in our heads (we’ve seen BTS enough times to know only a few of our unvoiced requests would be granted), we knew a career-spanning retrospective was surely in store, and that’s essentially what we got. This set seemed a little more focused on fan faves than usual, starting with “Center of the Universe” (and eventually “Carry the Zero”) from 1999’s Keep It Like a Secret, ensuing a few epic sing-alongs.

The band’s spaciously melodic guitar-gasms, intertwined with singer-guitarist Doug Martsch’s introspective yelping, sounded as endearing as ever, and their new songs sound a great deal like their 2006 songs, which were really a throwback to their late-'90s material, and so on. In spirit, we absolutely missed longtime drummer Scott Plouf and longtime bassist Brett Nelson — the two have been replaced by Steve Gere and Jason Albertini, respectively, since we last caught BTS — but truthfully, the band didn't sound at all different. Maybe Gere's fills were a touch different than Plouf's ... maybe. Anyway, other set standouts, like “In Your Mind,” “Strange” and surprises like the now-decades-old “Distopian Dream Girl,” played pretty seamlessly slotted alongside new tracks like “Living Zoo” from this year's Untethered Moon.

BTS is infamous for their eclectic choices of classic rock covers, and a particularly faithful rendition of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" in the encore didn't disappoint. And neither did the new track “So” and Love classic “Car," which rounded out the encore set. Hands were waving, fingers pointed at the ceiling, and bodies swayed side to side, interlocked in shoulder-hugs as this night of timeless indie rock came to a close.