At the 9:30 Club last night — with opening sets from Heartless Bastards and BJ Barham from American Aquarium — Old 97’s deviated from some songs’ typical arrangements, just to mix things up. The group switched to minor key for “Nineteen,” darkening a song about young love, and played the usually somber “Valentine” at a faster pace with a rougher style.

Never mind the Monday night gig: Old 97’s frantic “Every Night Is Friday Night” was just what the doctor ordered. Quipped bassist Murry Hammond, it’s “a song which makes us the Cheap Trick of alt-country.”

BJ Barham:

Heartless Bastards:

Old 97’s:

All photos by Erica Bruce

All of these elements are on display throughout the group’s fifth album, Restless Ones. Instead of clashing, though, Heartless Bastards’ many approaches fall together into a beautiful order. Roughhewn garage-pop gems like “Black Cloud” sit alongside the even catchier likes of “Into The Light,” which splices a jaunty piano vamp into the meaty, distorted hooks of Wennerstrom and second guitarist Mark Nathan. Even when things get atmospheric in “Wind Up Bird” — inspired by Haruki Murakami’s novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles — there’s plenty of Led Zeppelin-meets-Crazy Horse stomp to keep the song grounded.

Restless Ones doesn’t deviate wildly from Heartless Bastards’ wheelhouse, but it does give Wennerstrom and company more room to roam. “Hi-Line” is a serving of sturdy, meat-and-potatoes alt-country, invigorated by Wennerstrom’s lonesome, yearning lyrics; “Eastern Wind” is a sweaty workout of chugging, galloping bombast that offsets the folksy delicacy of “Pocket Full Of Thirst.” Instantly familiar yet bracingly fresh, “Journey” repurposes various radio-hit tropes — a ’60s girl-group drumbeat here, a ’90s alternative singer-songwriter vibe there — and spins them into wistful, nostalgia-free gold.

Ultimately, though, Wennerstrom’s voice is what carries the day. From the wounded, frustrated howl of “The Fool” to the droning, cooing mystery of “Tristessa,” she flaunts a sonic and emotional range that transcends the sum of Heartless Bastards’ influences. “I’m gonna find my place in the sun,” she sings with guts and grace in “Into The Light.” It sounds less like a wish than a promise.

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