Birdsongs of the Mesozoic + Ergo

Description
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is destined to go down in history as “that weird Mission of Burma side project.” It’s a dubious peg, given that MOB frontman Roger Miller worked with the avian-named outfit only for the first seven years of its nearly three-decade existence. But Miller is returning to the fold for the band’s Triassic Tour, hitting Mercury Lounge this week. The group nods unabashedly to billowy minimalism and flamboyant prog, but its saving grace is an offbeat sense of humor. When juxtaposed with primitive drum machines and loopy electronics, Miller’s florid piano lines come off as playful rather than grandiose. As for opener Ergo, the group’s trombonist Brett Sroka, keyboardist Carl Maguire and drummer Shawn Baltazor all belong to a generation for which Autechre and Sigur Rós are influential as Armstrong and Sun Ra. That’s certainly evident in the band’s timbral sophistication, spacey contours and slinky grooves.