Kevin Bronson on November 3rd, 2009

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“Hi, we’re Silversun Pickups,” Julian Casablancas told the almost-full house at Spaceland on Monday night.

Chuckles all around. Spaceland had billed the opener for this month’s residents the Happy Hollows as “secret guests,” and the morning line favored an appearance by the Silver Lake heroes, since they’d just gotten back in town from a long tour. Instead, it was the 31-year-old Strokes frontman and temporary Silver Lake resident who emerged from the darkened stage at 10 p.m., wearing a thigh-length leather jacket and leading the roar from his crack seven-piece band.

And quite a roar it was. Playing a 40-minute set of material from his new solo album, “Phrazes for the Young” (out today), Casablancas displayed a distinctly different sensibility from his day band. Oh, the soul man-meets-Ian Curtis vocals are still there, a little poppier maybe, but instead of their being atop wiry garage-rock licks now they are heaped up layers of guitars, synths and electro beats and real drums.

Aided by a lineup of musicians that included Blake Mills (ex-Simon Dawes) and Danielle Haim of (of L.A. up-and-comers Haim), the results of this first proper show, while not perfect, boded well for Casablancas’ upcoming Los Angeles residency – he plays downtown’s Palace Theatre every Friday this month starting this week.