Current Events, Classic Rock Influence Tel Aviv’s RockFour

Most pop music acts today are thought of in terms of what we see on MTV. When RockFour played at the Roxy on Thursday, it was hard not to think in terms of what we see on CNN.

The Tel Aviv quartet, popular in Israel since the mid-’90s and recently recording in English and reaching for an international presence, had just enough elements in its set to justify evaluating the music in light of current events.

An Israeli flag was draped over an amplifier, and such key lyrics as “We can’t decide who’s on our side” (in the opening “Astronauts”) fit easily into the context of Middle East headlines. But there’s much more to the band than that.

Drawing on the ‘60s folk-psychedelia of the Byrds (prominently in guitarist Baruch Ben- Izhak’s Rickenbacker 12-string licks), the Beatles (a powerful closing version of the Fab Four’s “Rain”) and the Beach Boys (several echoes of the wistful “Pet Sounds”), RockFour could easily fit alongside Sweden’s Hives and the Soundtrack of Our Lives or Detroit’s the White Stripes in the current garage-rock revival--though some sappy prog-rock touches were reminiscent of numerous Eastern European bands.

And the influences showed too transparently in places, though they often benefited from some imaginative twists. Whatever messages are in the music were not belabored. Singer-guitarist Eli Lulai showed no signs of any overt political mission, preferring wry understatement.

Perhaps the explosive bursts that punctuated several songs, powered by Ben-Izhak’s confident playing and Issar Tennenbaum’s fiery drumming, represented the real explosions and conflicts in the Middle East.

Or perhaps this is simply a strong, world-class band flexing its musical muscles.