Indie rock years are roughly the same as dog years, which means Built to Spill has been at it for, oh, about sixteen decades. Not really. But the first album from Boise's rockers came out in 1993, or before many of their college-age fans were even born. In a genre that chews up and spits out acts like so much bad sushi, the Built boys have shown remarkable staying power.
They showed why Wednesday night at the Granada Theater with a consummately professional and earsplitting set that danced nimbly between back catalog material and songs from their new album, Untethered Moon. With each immaculately layered guitar run and cresting power jam, Doug Martsch and his band touched as many bases as they could. Their massive body of work dictated some room for some disappointment, merely because of all the songs they couldn't play. (My unrequited desire: The tangy, crunchy "Conventional Wisdom," of 2006's "You in Reverse" album).
Spill still created room for plenty of favorites. The plaintive guitar wail of "Goin' Against Your Mind" (also off You in Reverse) cut the raucous air with a stab of melancholy. "The Plan," from the band's breakthrough 1999 album Keep it Like a Secret, brought an understated anthemic quality. The highlight, the song that brought the biggest cathartic roar at its conclusion, was "Carry the Zero," a poetic relationship song that built to a mountainous crescendo.
Built to Spill have come to look like a bunch of regular dudes in their 40s, because that's now what they are. This is a T-shirt and blue jeans outfit, free of airs, led by the low-key Martsch. His most elaborate gesture of the night? Continually toweling off his balding head when it got too hot on the Granada stage. Most of the time he just stood front and center, his right leg thrusting to the beat, playing his ass off.
They always play a juicy cover or two; Wednesday's best was Devo's "Gut Feeling," which inspired the world's friendliest mosh pit near the stage. The moment capped off the family feeling of the show, shared by a respectful crowd that seemed to know most of the words to most of the songs. When you stay at it with the tenacity of Built to Spill you can't help but foster devotion. Here's the setlist, if you are inclined to peruse.
