Kevin Bronson on May 9th, 2015

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“Holy sh*t!” somebody called out to Jesse Tabish of Other Lives on Thursday night at Club Bahia.

It was an exclamation of awe, not to mention a reductive yet accurate review of the Oklahomans’ second full-house Los Angeles show in as many nights. And Tabish, the quintet’s shaggy frontman, reacted in kind, himself gobsmacked by the reception the band got this week.

||| Photos by Zane Roessell

“We’re gonna roll up to every other city on your and think it’s gonna be like this, but it’s not,” he said, adding later: “We’re gonna say f*ck this tour and just do a permanent residency … I hear there’s great tacos down the street.”

That Other Lives earns such a warm embrace here certainly runs contrary to the clichéd view that Angelenos reserve their salivations for the glamorous and immediate-gratifiers. (And it speaks to the influence of show presenter KCRW, which has championed Other Lives since their 2011 breakthrough “Tamer Animals.”) Other Lives are neither particularly infectious nor photogenic; they are five beardos doing incredibly complex orchestral rock best enjoyed in darkened rooms, wearing headphones, square in the middle of a soul-wrenching existential crisis. Catharsis, or some semblance of it, has been known to ensue.

The interminable tug-of-war between the visceral and the logical plays out on Other Lives’ new album “Rituals,” a collection of meticulous, arching and cinematic songs that, while placing the quintet squarely behind the critical 8-ball (frequent comparisons to past tourmates Radiohead and Bon Iver), is a beast of its own. Layered with strings, horns, guitars and electronics, underpinned by thunderous, labyrinthine drumming and topped by Tabish’s vocals at their most confident, “Rituals” (co-produced by Joey Waronker) deals in human frailties, the mundane, the contradictory and the bleak, as if through some mournful celebration the music can cast them asunder.

All that heavy stuff aside, there were a handful of people up front at Club Bahia on Thursday who were singing along, to the mild bemusement of the players.

Tabish, along with instrument-juggling mates Josh Onstott, Jonathon Mooney and Daniel Hart and drummer Danny Reisch, see-sawed between songs from their second and third albums, touching on their 2009 self-titled debut only when they started the encore with “Black Tables.”

The big atmospherics of “Reconfiguration” set the tone for the show, which at various junctures featured doubled percussion, doubled violins, choral vocals and blasts from Mooney’s weathered trumpet. Five songs in, after three in a row from “Tamer Animals,” Tabish introduced the new album and with typical humility said, “We hope you don’t mind, but we’re gonna play a few songs from it.”

By then, though, Other Lives had the crowd in the palms of their very busy hands. Bathed in magenta light, they performed “2 Pyramids” and “Pattern” before hopping back to 2011 for “For 12” and “Tamer Animals'” title track. They ended their main set with “For the Last,” as close to a straight-up rock song as they’ve made, before returning for “Black Tables,” the new “Need a Line” and the 2011 homage to their home turf, “Dust Bowl III.”

L.A. duo Riothorse Royale — the new collaboration between Emily Greene and Madi Diaz expanded to a trio with a live drummer — opened with 30 impressive minutes themselves. They debuted back in February with the mesmerizing single “Rabbit Hole” and have since released an EP, “The Guest House.” The calling cards here are the heavenly dual vocals, mostly doubled but sometimes twined, and singles that range from the metronomic and understated to some melodic popgazing. Watch for them.

Other Lives’ setlist: Reconfiguration, Easy Way, As I Lay My Head Down, Landforms, Desert, 2 Pyramids, Pattern, For 12, Tamer Animals, English Summer, Fair Weather, For the Last. Encore: Black Tables, Need a Line, Dust Bowl III.

||| Previously: “Reconfiguration,” live at the El Rey, “Take Us Alive,” live at Coachella.