Reunited Maine legends Rustic Overtones bring their electrifying show to Pearl Street this Wednesday at 8:30PM.

“In perhaps the most highly anticipated event in local rock history Rustic Overtones, Maine’s groundbreaking rock group, has reunited.”- Patrick Doyle, Portland Press Herald

For fans of Rustic Overtones, July 27, 2007, was a day they never thought would come.

The hard-hitting, show-stopping, horn-powered rock band had broken up five years before, going out with a spectacular three-hour performance at the State Theater in their hometown of Portland, Maine. Two thousand fans filed into the night afterwards, exhilarated yet downcast as witnesses to the swan song of one of the best bands ever to emerge from their state.

Then this summer, an even greater crowd of 6,000 assembled in downtown Portland, on Monument Square, as the hiatus ended and Rustic Overtones heralded its return with a dramatic show executed on the rooftop of WCYY Radio. The Portland Press-Herald covered the concert with an appropriate mix of just-the-facts reportage and barely contained excitement: “In perhaps the most highly anticipated event in local rock history,” enthused Patrick Doyle, “Rustic Overtones, Maine’s groundbreaking rock group, has reunited.”

On Light at the End, their electrifying Velour Music Group debut, the group mixes the tight, slamming sound that put them on the map in the late ‘90s with a few twists guaranteed to delight loyal fans as well as new recruits. Produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (T. Rex, Morrissey, David Bowie) with long-time friend Jonathan Wyman (Seekonk, Stars Look Down, The Killing Moon), the band’s fiery rhythm section, ignited by blazing horn riffs, drives Dave Gutter’s soulful vocals on songs such as “Rock Like War,” the funk-singed “Troublesome,” and enigmatic “Black Leather Bag.” But then, on “Dear Mr. President,” the band pares its sound back to a delicate essence, as Gutter covers hot-button issues with a light touch aided by the music’s sing-along innocence.

This is a band that has bucked the odds to come back from a premature demise, with a strength and depth that, frankly, has surprised even its own members. On paper and on disc, then, Light at the End delivers what fans had dared to expect and new listeners have sorely needed. But more than that, it spreads the news, from Portland’s Monument Square to anywhere that music for heart, head and body still matters: Rustic Overtones is back, this time to stay. Tickets Here.