Stellar Rilo Kiley grows on audience

SOMERVILLE -- A lot of indie bands, even a number of really good ones, still have work to do, but if Tuesday night's performance at the Somerville Theatre is any indication, Rilo Kiley is already there. The Los Angeles band quite simply needs no more nurturing, and the show, which drew about half its songs from the fine new disc "More Adventurous," had the feeling of a band spreading its wings and showing how high and far it could fly.

With trumpet, violin, and cello players tucked away in one of the theater's balcony boxes and as many as three guitarists playing at a time, Rilo Kiley demonstrated an impressive mastery of pop dynamics throughout the evening. "Don't Deconstruct" found lead singer Jenny Lewis at her keyboard, augmented only by the strings as she sang the horn part herself, while the heartrending "Does He Love You?," about a friend involved with a married man, built perfectly to a stunning full-band climax that avoided succumbing to histrionics as the singer prowled around the stage with just her microphone.

Possessed of exceptional charisma and knowing precisely how to use her handsome if generally unremarkable voice, Lewis was an ideal frontwoman, focusing on empathy over blind technique. She sang the urgent "Love And War (11/11/46)" in a voice that sounded as if it was barely holding together and proved herself an able belter on the country-soul number "I Never," making each of the countless repetitions of the word "never" in the chorus sound just as important to the song as the previous one.

Still, Lewis was nonetheless a fully integrated member of her band, which was more than equal to the task of matching her. Led by guitarist Blake Sennett, they were able to switch effortlessly from the driving rhythm of "Portions For Foxes" to the countryish "More Adventurous" to "A Better Son/

Daughter" (from "The Execution of All Things") which, with its 3/4 time, ascending melody, ringing guitars, and martial drumbeat, could be a national anthem if its lyrics weren't about depression and dysfunction. The audience remained wildly enthusiastic throughout, and it's entirely possible that the atmosphere was electric with the realization that the band might not be playing such intimate venues for very much longer. It's the public's move; Rilo Kiley is ready.

They were preceded by Now It's Overhead, who played what sounded like fairly generic late 1980s college rock, with a gloomy if muscular sound seemingly extrapolated from the Cure's "Fascination Street."

They were easier to take seriously, but far less entertaining than relentlessly cheery openers Tilly and the Wall, whose lineup of acoustic guitar, keyboard, three singers and, yes, a tap dancer, made them sound like sing-along leaders at Belle & Sebastian summer camp.

Rilo Kiley
With NowIt’s Overhead and Tilly and the Wall
At: Somerville Theatre, Tuesday night