Pop : Dutch Quartet Turns Up Heat

“The next’s song’s not going to be ‘In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,’ ” joked Bettie Serveert’s guitarist Peter Visser during the Dutch band’s Troubadour concert on Saturday. The comment underscored the fact that the show had probably been a bit heavier than fans might have expected.

Indeed, the word probably used most in descriptions of the quartet’s two albums is airy . But this show had little air--literally, in regard to the West Hollywood club’s stuffy atmosphere, and musically, as the quartet turned up the juice and squeezed out the space in the songs with sometimes striking results.

The only light element was singer Carol van Dijk’s casually attractive and nimble voice. The combination of her neat melodic hooks with the band’s solid rock at its best made for a strong, amiable balance, as if a young Jackie DeShannon were fronting Crazy Horse.

The latter side got most of the time, with the lanky Visser’s animated playing and the rhythms of bassist Herman Bunskoeke and drummer Berend Dubbe turning such songs as “Keepsake” into virtual homage to Neil Young’s band. At times the approach got a bit repetitive and the songs turned shapeless. But when it all came together, as with the soaring pop hook of “Ray Ray Rain,” it was a real--pardon the pun--Dutch treat.