Despite being aware of the evils of energy dependency, John Vanderslice said he still drives a van around the country and guzzles $8,000 worth of gas a year.

"What does anyone do?" the San Francisco-based indie veteran says. "We're mostly just like outside of a very, very overwhelming process that has nothing to do with us."

Although Vanderslice's lyrics often deal with social and political issues, the heady singer-songwriter said he is more concerned with writing about his feelings than giving instruction for change or action.

Joined by opening act Spanish Prisoners, he will play an all-ages concert at 8 p.m. Thursday at Chronic Town, 224 W. College Ave.

Vanderslice recently wrapped up some dates supporting Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and said he added a few weeks of headlining shows because "we were already on the East Coast and decided to keep going."

Roustabout! promoter Jesse Ruegg said he believes Vanderslice's music will be well-received at his first show in State College, even by first-time listeners.

"He's an artist well-known with the press and other musicians, but not so much with the mainstream," Ruegg said, describing him as an "underground pop star."

Many reviews of Vanderslice's sixth album, 2007's Emerald City, have focused on its lyrics pertaining to the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq, but Vanderslice said he feels the record's theme is much broader.

"In my mind, it's not really about 9/11. There are references to Iraq, but for me a lot of the songs are about the end of the world," Vanderslice said, "which is maybe even more of a pompous, pretentious idea."

But despite the subject matter, Vanderslice said he sees his music as observational, not prescriptive or advocating specific change or action.

"Mostly, songwriting for me is not a sustained argument or a warning or a moral argument at all," Vanderslice said. "It's just an impressionistic, surrealistic approach to what I'm feeling. ... It's not like I'm standing outside of this and shedding a tear. I'm completely confused and amazed and depressed just as much as anyone else is."

One song reflecting this theme of powerlessness is Emerald City's "Tablespoon of Codeine," which is about "someone who believes that they have inside knowledge of horrific crimes and that they can't do anything," Vanderslice said.

"The reason why I wrote that song is, even if you knew anything, even outside 9/11 -- you could talk about Iran-Contra, or bribes and pay-offs with Blackwater, KBR, or whatever crooked [stuff] is going on -- you would find out that it's fixed," Vanderslice said.

All this corruption, Vanderslice said, supports his theory that "you can't do anything about anything."

"We have this fantasy of a whistle-blower, you just say the words and the madness stops, and I just began to think about how it would be to blow the whistle," he said.

Opening for Vanderslice is Spanish Prisoners. Leo Maymind -- the band's songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and only permanent member -- wrote in an e-mail that he would use the inexact term "noisy chamber pop" to describe the band's sound.

The lineup playing the band's folk/electronic art-rock for this tour is still in some fluctuation, Maymind wrote, and he may be supported by one more band member or a full band with drums and bass.

Either way, Maymind is excited for his State College debut, and wrote that it is generally fun for him to play near big college campuses, like his alma mater.

"I, myself, graduated from the Ohio State University not long ago, so I went to tons of shows around my college. Ah, memories," he wrote.

Maymind is also excited about the April 29 release of the band's debut album Songs to Forget, especially because it will also be available on vinyl.

"The first efforts at recording were a great learning experience, and I'm pretty pleased with the results, though listening back to it now, there are, of course, things I would change," he wrote.

Maymind wrote that recording Songs to Forget was a scattered process, especially with the little free time he had as a preschool teacher. The band will feature most of the songs on the new album at Thursday's show.