Eric Earley doesn't spend a lot of time scanning the reviews of his band Blitzen Trapper, but he's gotten so used to comparisons, they hardly register now.

"Over the years, we've heard all kinds of things," he says. "At this point, there's been so many, I don't even think they have any meaning anymore -- everything from Foghat to Pavement to, I don't know, Iron & Wine. Just all across the board."

Just this week, in talking about the Oregon band's new album, "Destroyer of the Void," someone mentioned Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"That's a new one," he says, laughing. "I never heard that."

Blitzen Trapper, which formed in Portland a decade ago and broke out last year with its Sub Pop debut "Furr," is at the forefront of the beardo folk-rock scene along with bands such as Fleet Foxes and Midlake, all harking back to the late '60s/early '70s era. Along with obvious influences such as Bob Dylan and CSNY, Blitzen Trapper assimilates it with pieces of the Beatles, Bowie and Queen.

"I like a lot of glam stuff," the frontman says. "At the same time, I feel like it's still in the same tradition. Even Bowie says one of his main influences was Bob Dylan, which is a weird thing to think about, but it makes sense."

One thing that does separate the singer-songwriter from some of his contemporaries is a flair for the ornate. "Destroyer of the Void" opens with an 8-minute song that edges into prog-rock. "It was actually three different songs I was writing. I put them together as an experiment," he says.

He's also a storyteller who likes to weave fantasy into this tales.

"I think it's just the way I see things, it just stems from my own personality as a writer," he says. "I like to mix the things that are real to me with dream imagery, as a way of telling stories without being entirely confessional about it."

Clearly, Blitzen Trapper would appeal to people who like everything from Dylan to, um, Skynyrd. But how does an indie label band reach them?

"I don't try to reach anybody in particular," the frontman says. "I just write songs and I think our music appeals to people who are into songs as opposed to genre or trendiness or something. I'm just trying to write songs that are solid, that last, and mean something to me."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.