O.C. POP MUSIC REVIEW : Roches Brandish Arsenal of Skill

Big name rock and pop acts are out on the road at this very moment, toting megawatt sound systems from city to city along with computerized lighting ample enough to illuminate a re-enactment of the final scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

But the Abduls, Boltons and most of their arena-level peers can’t begin to match the resources the Roches carried with them to the Coach House on Sunday night.

This close encounter of the trio kind didn’t require a lot of gear. The three harmonizing sisters from Greenwich Village brought along a couple of keyboards, a few guitars, a rhythm machine that they turned on occasionally during their 95-minute show and a kid brother who served as opening act and designated encore blues guitarist. It’s not high-tech support, but an arsenal of innate and intangible abilities that makes the Roches such a formidably entertaining troupe.

Since their debut in 1979, Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche (sequence based on order of birth) have brought intelligence, wit and wistfulness to themes that hit close to home. Foremost is their obsessive exploration of the modern romantic derby, and judging from most of what they sing, the three sisters all are still waiting for that special horse to come in. Their strong new album, “A Dove,” finds them beginning to hedge their bets and contemplate ways to get along in a world in which happily-ever-after-in-the-winner’s-circle is too much to expect.

While their performance Sunday hardly ignored lyrical and emotional substance, the Roches could have burrowed deeper into the longing and melancholy that are at the heart of “A Dove” and their fine previous album, “Speak.” They might have done so by stringing together a sustained sequence of their more plaintive and reflective songs.

Instead, they emphasized the comedic ability that always has been part of their talent arsenal, too, along with numbers that showcased the sisters’ unique harmony high-wire act at its most impressive and daring.

Suzzy, who does most of the talking, offered a fresh set of quips and humorous riffs taking off from her familiar persona as spacey monologuist coining neuroses into comic capital. Maggie, the quiet, inward-directed one, did her usual against-character go-go dancer routine during “The Angry, Angry Man,” the punchiest rocker in a show rooted in an assortment of harmony singing styles.

The Roches’ repertoire included folk, vaudeville, a touch of jazz and a whole lot of sumptuous church choir harmonizing (one a cappella novelty song, “The Anti-Sex Backlash of the ‘80s,” found the sisters weaving all of those strands into a single number). An array of sight gags and musical jokes helped freshen up “The Troubles,” one of three songs drawn from their first album.

Part of the Roches’ charm is their ability to craft songs that overlay the comic with the poignant--the best example Sunday being Maggie’s “One Season,” a wistful, sighing melody in which the laugh-lines fought a holding action against tears.

At some point, though, it would have been nice if the Roches had followed the pattern of their two most recent albums. While both have their comic interludes, “Speak” and “A Dove” mainly take a steady and serious look at the snarled, tangled nature of love.

A reasonable sampling of those songs made it into the set, but the Roches always alternated their plaintive tunes with songs that emphasized humor or novelty. Terre’s “Expecting Your Love,” with its yearning ache and gospel-style piano, would have been one of several possible points of entry into the sort of mood-exploration that John Prine was able to establish at the Coach House two weeks ago.

For pure singing, the Roches reconfirmed that--to borrow another film title--they’re in a league of their own. Maggie is the steady, alto anchor; if the group were a women’s baseball team, she’d be behind the plate. Suzzy has the scrappy attitude and rangy vocal reach to play sonic shortstop, while Terre is a born center fielder, capable of breathtaking soprano leaps to pull down a high note.

With the sense of timing to execute the rainwater patter of voices in “Ing,” the acuity of pitch to veer into harmonized dissonance on “One Season,” the concentration and ambition to pull off a demanding miniature of the “Hallelujah Chorus” and the consistency to turn out gorgeous close harmonies as if they were routine plays, the Roches are a special team.

David Roche opened with a 20-minute sampling from his independent debut album, “Here It Is.” He is a more than competent coffeehouse folkie with a decent but not spectacular voice. His fragile passages, which were few in this brief, anthem-dominated set, recalled Paul Simon. At other times his energetic strumming and spread-legged rocker’s stance brought Steve Forbert to mind.

If not exactly poetic, Roche’s five songs at least were cogent. “Gimme a Break” portrayed a faltering careerist, although Roche’s strident delivery played up the character’s anger when he’d have done better to underscore his pathos. “Here It Is” was a convincing, full-bore anthem that celebrated the power of love to rescue a cynic.