Tues. Jan. 31

Kurt Vile and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore at the Somerville Theatre Tuesday, Jan. 31? Sweet. Moore you know – the noisemaker/guitarist out on his own right now, playing intricate acoustic music. Vile?

    It’s a name that could have come from the 1976 punk rock revolution alongside Rat Scabies and Poison Ivy,  with its nasty implications and pun on Kurt Weill. Yet, it also happens to be the real name of the 31-year-old singer-songwriter who fronts Kurt Vile & the Violators. Go figure. Maybe it’s fate. For what other job would the surname Vile be so viable?

    There is some corrosive punk rock attitude in the Philadelphia-based former Bostonian, certainly when it comes to volume and cacophony. Vile and his backing trio played a steamroller of a set at the soldout Brighton Music Hall last year, an 80-minute onslaught of Stooges/Velvet Underground-like aggro rock.

   But it was a bit of a shock to the system.

   Because if you listen to Vile’s CDs, particularly his fourth and latest, “Smoke Ring For My Halo,” this full-bore attack is not what you’d expect. Vile’s studio sound is textured and nuanced, sometimes folksy and rural. Sure, it can get noisy and psychedelic, but it’s mostly dark and subtle music with arrangements that suck you into a sonic web. And Vile has a well-earned reputation as a melancholic, cryptic lyricist and conversational singer. Think Neil Young circa “On the Beach.”

    That was pretty much blown away in concert. Think Dinosaur Jr.

    Vile and the Violators had their full blare on - vocals and instruments all mixed to the max, at stun-gun level. Vocal clarity was a lost cause. And though Vile often played an acoustic guitar, he used multiple effects pedals to give it fully electric jolts. Vile, rhythm guitarist Jesse Turbo and bassist Adam Granduciel shook their shaggy manes and stared at their shoes up front. Mike Zeng was at the rear, banging drums.

   Sure, there was undeniable pleasure and catharsis to be found in Vile’s rip ‘n’ roar. The opening “Overnight Religion” had hypnotic power. “On Tour” copped a killer riff from David Bowie’s“Rebel, Rebel.” The closing duo of the regular set, “Society Is My Friend” and “Freak Train,” were monsters of rock.

    But it was too dense and too monochromatic over the long haul. It felt more like a marathon than a sprint. Ultimately, there were just not enough glimmers of light in Vile’s big snarling wall of sound. For those, you’ll have to go back to the discs.

Tix: $21.50. Starts at 7:30.

55 Davis Square, Somerville, 617-625-5700  www.somervilletheatreonline.com