The Church Keeps the Faith : The band is now a duo. It brings its layered, psychedelic sound, now more subtle than symphonic, to an acoustic set Friday.

The musical faithful will bear witness to some polished psychedelic pop when The Church duo of Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper bring an acoustic set to the Ventura Theatre on Friday night.

The duo will doubtlessly be playing tunes off their ninth album, last year’s “Somewhere Anywhere,” plus reprising some memorable oldies such as “Under The Milky Way.” The groovy quotient will be high.

The Church began making layered pop rock from the band’s native Australia in 1981, perhaps proving inspirational to the vast number of dream-pop and shoe-gazer British bands that followed. Through it all the band has remained revered by college radio.

Originally a quartet, The Church lost drummer Richard Ploog in 1990, who was replaced first by drummers, then by machines. The band’s trademark sound, featuring a pair of guitarists, Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes, then downsized by half when Koppes excommunicated himself in 1992.

Yet “Somewhere Anywhere,” does not come off as a pale version of a bigger band. Studio magic or just two guys working harder? That remains to be seen when the Churchmen do it live. To that end, Kilbey discussed what’s what during an expensive phone conversation from his Stockholm home.

What’s up with this acoustic tour?

You know, there’s just two of us left and we have a chance to go out without having to put a band together. Before, when we had two 12-string guitars playing, there were all sorts of overtones and all sorts of notes flying around, making it all very symphonic. The songs still sound good--they’re more intense, more subtle. And now, with just two of us, there’s not so many discussions. None of that “No, I’m right;” “No, you’re right” stuff. If we do get another band, it’ll just be hired guns.

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What’s up in Sweden; does Stockholm rock?

I’ve got kids here, that’s why I’ve been drifting between here and Australia. There’s an underground scene here, but not a lot of places to play. Obviously, when someone like Joe Cocker comes to town, there’s always somewhere for him to play.

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Why are there so many good bands in Australia?

I don’t know--everywhere has at least a couple of good bands, I suppose. Originally, we got an English label deal, went to tour England, then toured the continent. It really put us in debt. We had to go back to Australia and work for two years just to pay it back.

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Has The Church changed since 1981?

Not really, we’ve just gotten better at it--better at writing and better at expressing ourselves. We just try to do what we do.

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Are there more bands than bass players? How did you happen to choose the bass?

There doesn’t seem to be too many bass players around at any moment. I dunno, the bass just appealed to me. The first time I saw a band, I just couldn’t believe that “boom-boom” sound coming from it. This bass player was just sitting on a stool, not moving, wearing some really cool Beatle boots, making all this noise. I didn’t buy an electric guitar, I bought a bass first. I thought about being a musician when I was 11 or 12 years old, and by the time I was 16, I knew I wanted to play. My first band was one of those knockabout bands.

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Do you remember the first Church gig?

Sure. It was in Sydney, Australia, and I remember we played this song “Is This Where You Live” that ended up being on our first album, and I thought, “This is it. We’re on it now.” I could just feel it. We were going places where previous bands I’d been in had never been.

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What was a strange Church gig?

One time we played at a huge ice hockey rink in New Hampshire and there were only six people there.

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What do you think Church music sounds like?

God, I don’t know. It’s difficult to describe music for others. Right now, all I know is we’re going to California, after that, I don’t know. Then we’ll do another album, but we haven’t started it yet.

Details

* WHAT: The Church, Dreaming In Tongues.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St.

* WHEN: Friday night, 9 p.m.

* COST: $16.50.

* CALL: 648-1888.