Seepeoples

Usually, the mere mention of jam rock is enough to make me cover my ears in terror. And if I can’t leave the venue or change the radio dial, by the end of the wandering seven-minute guitar solo I might be in tears. Perhaps it’s an unfair prejudice or maybe it’s a case of adult-onset Attention Deficit Disorder, but I like my rock to come in short, inspired bursts. Thankfully, there’s SeepeopleS.

Formerly known as Cosmic Dilemma, the band started here in the Bangor area playing your average jam rock in the Phish vein. The name has changed since those early days, as well as the band’s base of operations (first Boston and now Asheville, N.C.). But most significantly, the formerly meandering sound has been tweaked and tightened, keeping the experimental edge but strengthening the focus.

At 10 p.m. Wednesday, SeepeopleS will rock the reopened, smoke-free Sea Dog Brewing Co. at 26 Front St. in Bangor. The night’s 21-and-up-only show will also feature Bangor-area percussionist Paul J. Bosse.

“I think we’re very far from a pop act, even though we have songs that are catchy,” SeepeopleS guitarist and songwriter Will Bradford says of the band’s new direction. “SeepeopleS started out as a jam-for-four-hours kind of band and did a lot of sonic explorations. That’s probably the main shift. We’re not really trying to find a new place, to find a new sound. We’re trying to make that sound as tight as possible.”

Their new album, “For the Good of the Nation,” shows off the SeepeopleS’ newfound focus and pop sensibilities – that’s to say, pop in the best possible sense of the word. The jam haze is cleared away in favor of tighter arrangements and unique instrumentation – acoustic guitars mingling with dub loops, keyboards and mandolin. And the album’s stellar opening and closing tracks, “View from Here” and “Out Here on Our Own,” feature baritone sax provided by Dana Colley, formerly of the mid-90s jazz-rock trio Morphine.

“It’s more aggressive, a little edgier,” says Bradford. “It’s a little less jam band, a little more Radiohead.” And the result is a sound that even we narrow-eared fans of the short rock song can enthusiastically enjoy.

George Bragdon can be reached at gbragdon@bangordailynews.net. For information on SeepeopleS’ Wednesday night gig, call 888-4-SEADOG. For more about See-peopleS, visit www.seepeoples.com.