White Rabbits. Photo by Sarah Sherman.

White Rabbits lived together in a Brooklyn loft for a time (yeah, all six of them), writing and practicing their music whenever the mood struck. Perhaps the roommate bond is where their onstage chemistry springs from, enabling them to easily trade instruments onstage, even allowing them to cover for their bassist while he takes a bathroom break, then laugh at him while he admits to the audience that his break was rather poorly timed.

Or maybe this is just an exceptional band.

The Rock and Roll Hotel hosted the sextet Sunday night as they took a break from recording their next album, the follow-up to 2009’s It’s Frightening, which held fast to White Rabbits’ rhythm section, featuring two percussionists, but dialing back the frenetic feel of 2007’s Fort Nightly. Live, however, the band is as manic as they want to be, just like It’s Frightening‘s cover art. Sunday evening, the group mixed old sounds with new, ramping up the bass and the tempo, mixing genres beautifully.