In the course of Saturday evening's Manifest Nexto Me performance at the Barley Pub in Dover, I heard their music described as jazz, funk, hip hop, rock, alternative, grunge, psychedelic, Indy, and reggae. I also heard them compared to a confounding array of popular groups, including the Roots, the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soullive, Sublime and (my own contribution) Rage Against the Machine.

For the band members, who work to incorporate each others' individual tastes, the comparisons are largely meaningless.

"It seems like once you categorize yourself as a jazz band or a jazzy hip hop band, it kind of confines you a little bit. You have preconceived notions of what is within that style. Whereas we're just a band playing music. It breaks the boundaries down so that we can do whatever we feel in the moment," says bassist Will Schebaum, describing their all-encompassing fusion.

Manifest has been together in various forms for almost three years now. On Saturday, they manifested themselves as keyboardist/vocalist Mike Morelli, keyboardist/vocalist Kris Kiper, drummer Chris Battis, and bassist/vocalist Schebaum. Kiper, Battis and Schebaum are all graduates of Exeter High School. Together, they have attained considerable recognition in post-Phish Burlington, filling such esteemed clubs as Higher Ground and The Metronome. Their first CD, Victim Oblivion, which has been out for about a year, was honored as one of the year's top 10 albums by the Burlington Free Press and the Vermont weekly Seven Days.

The band has made definite advances since its first album, however. While Victim Oblivion has a clean, jazzy, jammy sound, the group is now experimenting with more distortion, as well as incorporating hard rock and hip hop grooves. Certain elements of this sound can be traced back to the days of Beatnik and Blue Bus, the alternative, Nirvana-era high school bands in which Kiper, Battis and Schebaum started playing together.

The shift is intentional, but the direction is dictated by the creative process itself.

"I think now we're just going for it," said Kiper. "I don't think we're trying really to do anything."

At the Barley Pub, Kiper and Morelli exchanged energized vocal bombardments, while each instrumentalist tinkered with his own strain of consciousness. The songs were complex in the profundity of their parts.

The second tune of the set, for example, began with Kiper repeating a slick, hip hop chord section while Morelli rapped out lyrics. After a couple of verses, the keyboarding mutated into roping, psychedelic weaves that washed over the audience like a tsunami. Then, after everyone had forgotten it existed, Kiper abruptly returned to the plangent, opening beat. This induced ecstatic whoops and hollers from the crowd, and probably a few goose-bumps.

The quartet was playing with Battis for the first time since he parted ways with the band in February. Manifest's current drummer, PJ Davidian, who could not make the show on Saturday, is a former member of national act Viper House. Battis filled in competently, however, playing straight ahead, fast and heavy rock.

"It's kind of like sleeping with an ex-girlfriend," Kiper said of playing with his old band mate.

Though the band is not working on developing a particular sound, they are focused on writing thought-provoking lyrics, which they feel they've overlooked in the past. Morelli and Kiper, the principal lyricists, make a point of articulating each word carefully enough to garner consideration from listeners.

The goal, they say, is simply to make relevant observations about the times we live in, and to attach to them an emotionally charged sound.

"A lot of it is kind of about the state of the world and how everyone is feeling," Kiper said. "We don't want to explain all these things that suck about the world; it's more like a general assumption that we're all on the same page."

Morelli put it in simpler terms. "This is how I feel, and these are the images I can relate to," he explained, referring to the sentiment underlying his songs.

In their two sets on Saturday, the band moved from older songs to brand new ones, accruing energy as they progressed. It was easy to distinguish old from new, as the first tunes contained drawn-out jams that sometimes dragged on a bit too long, while the latter ones were more concise.

Manifest Nexto Me has played such local venues as Biddy Mulligan's, Murphy's Tin Palace, the UNH Granite Room, the Muddy River and the Barley Pub. They hope to return to the Seacoast soon, possibly around Thanksgiving. But as a home base, they are more than happy to remain in Burlington. Schebaum, whose inventive bass playing is worth mentioning, said it best.

"Being able to pack one of the larger downtown venues on a 10-degree-below-zero January night, with a line out the door is... we're doing pretty well," he said with a grin.