The Books

Tue., Sept. 15, 8 p.m., $15, with Lymbyc Systym, First Unitarian Church sanctuary, 2125 Chestnut St., 866-468-7619, r5productions.com.

by K. Ross Hoffman

experimental/electro-acoustic

The brainy, zany Books, idiolectic acoustic syncretists, are one of this decade's truly idiosyncratic acts. We've somehow let a full glass-empty half of the decade slip past since Lost and Safe, their deft, soft third, and it's been too long. We miss the comforting peculiarity of their cello-flecked folk collages, the analytical tenderness of their concrete abstractions, the fastidious whimsy of their curious verbal inversions. The odd twosome have evidently been spent the last four-odd years raising kids and renovating their rural New England homes — as well they should; they always seemed like the nicest, most well-adjusted guys you could hope to meet, and I'm sure they're awesome dads. And while it's true they've been to visit in the interim, gracing us with an improbably captivating live show whose found-footage videos form a perfect visual analog to their music, this time they'll have some new sounds to offer, as well: previews of a sleepy, "new agey" forthcoming album influenced by hypnotherapy cassettes. I hear fatherhood can be pretty exhausting.

The Books