Rhymes With Odd: Richmond Folk-Rock Outfit Ilad

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UNLIKE MOST OF ITS beard-rocking brethren, Richmond folk-rock band Ilad is more than a mere peddler of bygone sounds. While embracing traditional song styles, the group's experimental tendencies and sensitivity to mood keep its music from becoming mired in nostalgia.

"We just feel things out," says Scott Clark, drummer for the group. "I guess in a way we are nostalgic for great old music ... but we like a lot of great new music, too."

Scott says he and his fellow band members throw everything into the mix, from the Delta blues of Son House to structured Philip Glass-like pointillism. The end result is a sort of soft psychedelia that floats somewhere between rustic blues and dream-pop.

"We never get together with an idea of what kind of music we're going to play," says Clark. "We improvise a lot and that comes about in our compositions at times."

It makes sense, then, that the quartet recorded its last album, "Here/There," with producer and Tortoise drummer John McEntire in Chicago. Under the exploratory impresario's influence, Ilad songs like "Mexico" and "Wish for a Flood" are transformed from simple finger-picked ditties into deeper studies in sentiment and perspective.

Together since 2004 and set to release a new, third full-length, Ilad refuses to rest on its laurels. According to Clark, the band is booked to play shows through January.

"That's where the music really happens," says Clark, although he adds that he recognizes the toll a long tour can take. "It's just one of those things you have to do. You just have to put your trust in the universe and hope that everything works out OK."

Coming from of a city with a rich heritage of Southern rock and finding its stride amid a persistent buzz about underground contemporary "freak-folk" music, Ilad is well positioned to rise to the cream of the alt-country crop.

"There is room to grow in our music, but we're coming more and more into our own," says Clark.

» Galaxy Hut, 2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; Sun., Aug. 30, 9 p.m., $5; 703-525-8646.

Written by Express contributor Johnathan Rickman
Photo courtesy Joanna Ramos