Fearing for the safety of the Beatles and Devo figurines perched on the wall of the Tiny Desk, those complex, decibel-shattering arrangements are stripped down to a few guitars and a MiniKorg. Jon Loudon’s gravelly voice is major presence on Restorations records, and doesn’t tone anything down here, shouting down the climactic chorus of “Separate Songs” and joined by his bandmates in three-part harmony for “The Future.”

Set List

• “Separate Songs”
• “Tiny Prayers”
• “The Future”

Credits

Producers: Lars Gotrich, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Brian Jarboe; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Morgan McCloy; Assistant Producer: Lani Milton; photo by Morgan McCloy/NPR

Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

“Tiny Prayers,” for example, stretches for miles in every direction, with Dan Zimmerman’s driving bass line heading straight out of U2‘s desert-gazing years. In a worn rasp, Loudon sings at the chorus, “Tiny prayers to the coffee cups scattered all across my house / My only measure of time” — perhaps an allusion to poet T.S. Eliot’s “coffee spoons.” But mostly, that measure sets the thematic tone for LP3: Shout your vulnerability, don’t cower behind it. In “Separate Songs” — complete with “heinous feedback, giant chorus, too many guitar solos,” Loudon says — Restorations becomes a boisterous and broken arena-rock band with the grand swell of an organ, as it comes up against the failure of a life-that-could-be in a way that hurts: “Imagine that focus in real life / Imagine going outside / Imagine not waiting for someone to come along.”

In a creative relationship that continues to grow, Jon Low returns once again to produce. Like Restorations, he’s based in Philadelphia; he’s worked with acts like Strand Of Oaks and The War On Drugs, not to mention The National‘s Trouble Will Find Me. Because these songs sound bigger and brighter than before — with a three-guitar attack throughout — Low’s production sounds heavier, but not without a tender touch. In the otherwise-airy “Misprint” and “All My Home,” he stresses the snare and hi-hat with the kind of space heard on an ’80s hair-metal record. A post-punk rager, “No Castle” smartly centers its throttling bass line in the swarming chaos of Dave Klyman and Ben Pierce’s Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar moves.

Restorations’ third album in four years marks a quick progression from its emo and pop-punk roots to the gruff and grandiose heartland rock that always hovered in the background. Think of the punks raised on Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, if you must — The Gaslight Anthem, The Hold Steady, Constantines — but LP3 is more reminiscent of when the late-’90s emo band Chamberlain “just accepted our hayseed roots” and made its excellent album The Moon My Saddle. These musicians have lived in those records, but this is also an awakening for Restorations, a honest spot for the band to start asking — as Loudon sings in “The Future” — “So, where are you headed? / So, where are you going?”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.