Pop Music : Johannes’ Best Band Yet at Club Lingerie

Eleven must be Alain Johannes’ lucky number--that’s what the Chilean-born Fairfax High alum named his latest band. But it’s No. 3 that’s his charm--as this trio, his third group, is the one in which it all adds up.

Eleven, which played Club Lingerie on Saturday, takes the best from its two predecessors. First came under-appreciated What Is This (which shared aesthetics and members with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, including Eleven’s powerhouse drummer Jack Irons), then Walk the Moon (Johannes’ first partnership with Eleven’s Moscow-bred keyboardist/co-vocalist Natasha Schneider). At the center of all three have been Johannes’ spectacular guitar-playing and sharp songwriting.

Saturday, it often seemed that the band’s numerical name might represent the count of readily identifiable influences--from the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix to Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder and, most of all, Prince, as he’s already a synthesis of the others.

But this is the hard-edged rock side of Prince that the Purple One has left largely unexplored for several years.

And Johannes and Co. have molded the elements into a distinctive blend that’s funky without being static, melodic without being sappy and vaguely psychedelic without being spacey or affected. This may be Johannes’ third go-round, but it feels like he’s just getting started.