Pop Music Reviews : A Balanced Act by the Psychedelic Furs

Over the past decade, the Psychedelic Furs have alternated between churning up sandstorms of dense, distorted sound and laying down winsome pop with gentle surfaces and enticing melodies. The British band has made memorable music doing it both ways, and on Tuesday at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim it did justice to each approach.

Some admirers of the Furs’ earlier, noisier incarnation tend to discredit the pop fluency that evolved by the group’s third album, “Forever Now.” Now, with its new album, “Book of Days,” the band has returned to the sonic maelstrom approach.

The first half of the show was devoted primarily to songs from the new album, and to older material, such as “Sister Europe,” that also featured opaque, layered sound. The six Furs rendered those textures effectively, but before long a sense of droning sameness set in, and one began to wonder whether the Furs were going to repudiate their pop tendencies and linger in murk for an entire show.

Then, like a beam shooting through clouds, “Heaven” came shining with its firm, clear melodic and rhythmic surge. It was the first in a troika of romantic pop songs that gave the show a needed lift around the halfway mark.

The Furs also play Friday and Saturday at the Pantages Theatre.