JAZZ AND POP REVIEWS : THE GO-BETWEENS’ BROODING SPIRIT

Most of the best and more visible rockers from Down Under nowadays are pop classicists deeply rooted in the bouncy pop of the mid-’60s British Invasion. Not the Go-Betweens. This Australian quintet--which headlined the Roxy on Thursday--is closer in brooding spirit to the mid-’80s British Invasion, a la the Smiths, and the folksy droning and romantic non sequiturs that accompany it.

A majority of songs are built around a strummed acoustic guitar base, drummed along at a jaunty clip, with the veneer of pleasantness and major chords disguising what is lyrically nervous and unsure. In case you miss the point, there are a few vaguely unsettling instrumental undercurrents as well as the monotonic vocals of songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who are all too indistinguishable from one another most of the time (as are many of the songs).

The recent addition of Amanda Brown on violin has helped set the Go-Betweens somewhat apart. They ought to consider employing her as a singer too: Her one lead vocal, on the country duet “Don’t Call Me Gone,” was the evening’s highlight.

If you were on the lookout for something a little more galvanizing, there was the predictably unpredictable opening set from local boys Thelonious Monster, who offered a half-hour of amiably bluesy jamming and boozy rambling before singer Bob Forrest announced that they’d played their required time and were ready to collect their paltry fee.

Despite the lack of an encore call, the band reappeared a couple of minutes later without Forrest--but with Circle Jerks and ex-Black Flag singer Keith Morris in tow as lead vocalist, announcing his membership in the group before launching into a blazing Flag oldie and a monstrously good version of a Robin Trower song.