Weather Machine 

Some of the songs on The Weather Machine’s new album, “Applecore,” were written during the COVID-19 pandemic and some were written many years ago. “Montana” was written while the band was driving into the Big Sky State while on tour, “Out of My Head” was written right after John Prine’s death in 2020, and the title track was written on the Fourth of July.

And then there’s “Uncle John,” a song about toxic masculinity. The band had been playing that one live for many years, said songwriter and frontman Slater Smith, using an entirely different arrangement. But it had never appeared on any of The Weather Machine’s first three albums, because they could never quite get it just right when recording.

“And then one day in practice, we got bored with it and we were like, ‘What would Jack White do with this?’ And we turned it into the heaviest rock song ever,” Smith said.

“Part of the problem that we’d had historically is that we’d gone into our own basements and our own DIY studios and made (the earlier) albums, but the live show evolved into something completely different,” he continued. “We were never quite able to capture that until this album.”

So what changed? Two things, according to Smith: First, The Weather Machine spent years on the road, honing its sound and developing into a tight and muscular band. And second, they recorded “Applecore” with renowned Portland-based producer Tucker Martine, best known for his work with artists like Neko Case, The Decemberists and Rosanne Cash.

“I’m a huge fan of Tucker’s stuff, in particular the album ‘Circuital’ by My Morning Jacket, and I’ve always wanted to make a record with that kind of depth and space to it,” Smith said. “Tucker brings that element to it, and you can really hear all of the things that we’re doing on the recording.”

Martine was a “dream producer” for the band, Smith said, but he wasn’t the first plan. The first plan was to write a bunch of songs and record them with a producer from the East Coast within a six-month window in late 2020, just before Smith moved from Portland to Wellington, New Zealand. But COVID-19 scrapped those plans — the record plans, not Smith’s relocation; he did move at the beginning of 2021 — but the result was serendipitous, as it led the band to Martine.

“Applecore” features a number of tunes that have been bouncing around Smith’s world for a long time and they are, more or less, a reflection on the past several years for the Sisters High School graduate: choosing to be a musician, avoiding life’s problems, processing emotions, reckoning with the failures of capitalism, feeling frustrated with the state of the United States (and the world), recognizing “the rotten underbelly of what a lot of our culture sits on,” Smith said.

There are some love songs, too, but no matter the content, The Weather Machine’s songs are, at their core, left-of-center folk-rock with dusky undertones, unexpected textures, a strong rhythmic backbone and plenty of hooks. “Applecore” is, without question, the band’s best album yet, and making it was a special experience for Smith and his bandmates.

“It felt like the culmination of 10 years of work,” Smith said. “We’re in the studio with our hero producer after going through so much together on the road, and I’m about to move to New Zealand. I get to have this time with a bunch of my best friends. It just felt so meaningful. It still does.”

What: The Weather Machine and Smokey Brights

When: 9 p.m. Friday

Where: Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend

Cost: $10

Contact: volcanictheatre.com.