Owl Paws and John Miller take flight at Pierce Ranch.

Owl Paws’ new video is a guerilla-style piece of performance art done on the fly: Presented by Dreaded Savage Films and Oaktown Indie Mayhem, it begins with frontman, guitarist-singer Derek Schultz, and bassist Tim Vickers (drummer Lucas Siobal doesn’t appear) schlepping their gear up the side of North Berkeley’s Indian Rock, which looks more like a small mountain than a rock, under a late-afternoon sun. They perform “The Things I Forgot,” off their forthcoming album, to about 40 audience members scattered about on any non-jagged platform available.

In addition to showcasing the musicians, the video captures the towering outdoor expanse, which yields views that extend all the way to the San Francisco Bay. The song is pleasantly atmospheric with the upright bass strings pounded out as if each note was the last. It sounds like Radiohead’s In Rainbows’ long-lost, lower-budget granola cousin. The spontaneous video, in conjunction with the new song, just make you hungry for more Owl Paws.

For the outfit’s recent EP, Cold Lead Bath, they went for a darker feel than their previous couple of records.

“The vibe is different because it’s more acoustic,” Schultz says. “We also tracked all the acoustic instruments first and then did percussion over it.”

Cold Lead Bath also marks their first time hooking up with engineer/producer Ben Burney, who’s working on their upcoming full-length effort – in his brand new all-analog studio in an old house in the hills of Richmond – to be released sometime this fall.

“[Burney] is able to see our vision and works with us on defining it,” Schultz says. “We see eye-to-eye and he just seems to know what we want it to sound like so we can really trust him.”

Schultz envisions the next record as Owl Paws’ opus; they’ve been working on it for more than two years now and aren’t willing to make any compromises as they continue to attempt to push musical boundaries.

“It’s important to make sure the intention of a song is clear so people can understand why it exists,” Schultz says. “Sometimes a recording can lose the feel and the right emotion of the song.”

Acoustic guitar and upright bass were recorded live in a room together on Cold Lead Bath’s title track to yield a heartfelt closeness that Schultz says couldn’t be achieved using overdubs.

One thing these guys will never be accused of: lack of attention to detail.

OWL PAWS and JOHN MILLER perform 8:30pm Friday, April 11, at Pierce Ranch Vineyards, 499 Wave St., Monterey. $5. 372-8900.

: : HEAR MORE HERE : :

• owlpaws.bandcamp.com
• john-miller-music.com