The ceiling of the Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut looks a bit like an inverted wooden ship. It is a landmark modernist design, by architect Victor A. Lundy, and completed in 1965. While listening to Caravan of Thieves perform at the church October 4, I occasionally glanced up and watched the music soaring into the rafters.

The Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Caravan has been led by “Fuzz” Sangiovanni on guitar and vocals, along with his former wife, Carrie Linsky (rhythm guitar and vocals) since 2008. There’s always a virtuosic fiddle player, originally Ben Dean but now the Britain-born Dan Foster. Dan Asher is on bass.  

The music crosses all kinds of borders. The basis, Fuzz explains, is gypsy jazz. He says he was taking a walk in a Bridgeport park and listening to gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt when it occurred to him that the idea of combining that high, wild sound with the acoustic pop he’d been making as Fuzz and Carrie might make sense. And, of course, he’d need his very own Stephane Grappelli.

Caravan songs are far from ordinary. They combine the essence of European art song with Tin Pan Alley, “These Boots are Made for Walking” Nancy and Lee, and a touch of Dark Shadows. Fuzz told me he also likes the classical composers, including Mozart and Debussy, and that’s in there too.

In Westport, the Caravan music stopped on a dime, with rapid tempo changes, complex vocal arrangements and mad guitar/violin exchanges. Both Fuzz and Dan played jaw-dropping runs, which the other caught and twisted into knots.

Covers? Caravan included Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” They like the darker stuff. An original they did is called “Eat You”:

Cause you’re my chocolate-covered strawberry
Cause you’re my piping hot pastry
Dreaming about the moment that I own you
Love you to the bone

… Cause you’re my vicious but delicious cheat
A heart attack lip smacking sweet
I don’t deserve you either way I’ll serve you
Finally I got the nerve

… I go hungry every night
Not this time around

… I’m gonna eat you, you’re my desire
I’m gonna sharpen all my teeth and build a fire
I’m gonna eat you, cook and defeat you
I’m gonna breathe you in my lungs and make you mine

“Monster” mixes the agonies of love with the creation of Frankenstein in the good doctor’s lab. And “Raise the Dead” offers this:

Let’s all raise the dead
And ask them to come to feast
A big celebration of past consummations and grand conceits
Let’s all break some bread
And merry down the boulevard
Give medals of honor to all of the goners and deceased

Caravan fans are called, in a friendly way, “freaks.” The band still has a strong following, though it doesn’t play as often as it did 10 years ago. But seen live, the instrumentally spectacular, highly theatrical treat is totally intact.

Caravan of Thieves plays Trinity Stage’s Music on Main in Middletown, Connecticut October 24, and the Fairfield Theater Company Stage One December 20. They do a lot of holiday shows.