POP MUSIC REVIEW : Church’s Willson-Piper at Bogart’s

On the latest solo album by Marty Willson-Piper, the guitarist for the Australian band the Church, there’s one song titled “Melancholy Girl” and another titled “Melancholy god,” neatly delineating how he bridges meaningful ‘60s-style pop existentialism and meaningful ‘90s-style pop existentialism. In his solo acoustic show on Sunday at Bogart’s Bohemian Cafe, Willson-Piper stayed pretty much within those boundaries.

While the melancholy was ever-present, the god part was never dealt with overtly. That’s par for the course, as Willson-Piper specializes in couching acute yearnings in obtuse imagery, while rightfully promising no more than (as a song title put it) “Questions Without Answers.”

The casual, makeshift atmosphere of the Bohemian Cafe proved perfect for this philosophizing; close contact with the audience helped deflate potential pomposity.

And for the hard-core Church mice who made up a good portion of the crowd, a treat came when the group’s lead singer, Steve Kilbey, joined in for an encore of a cheerless number by obscure English ‘70s pop existentialist Steve Harley. Of course, they could never re-create the sometimes hypnotic textures of their band in this acoustic setting, but the song capped off a rewarding busman’s holiday for performers and fans alike . . . even if no one saw God.