Soundblab

L.A. indie popsters Rat Fancy, hit the ground jangling, with the infectious “I Can’t Dance To The Smiths Anymore” on their latest EP, the six-song set Suck A Lemon on HHBTM records. This is the best song on the album, a throwback to the glory days of indie-garage-pop.

Diana Barrazza, formerly of the Sweater Girls, has a pop-sweet voice that belies the acidic lyrics (“Girl, you’ve got your problems, but I have some too, and I’d rather suck a lemon than talk to you”), and she and her band mates (Gavin Glidewell and Gregory Johnson) generate enough noisy bubblegum to keep a junkie like me in a sugar coma.

The songs are still rough and the band has some room for improvement, but the heart and soul come through clearly. Quirky Styx-ian keyboards, single string guitar accents, and manic drumming (a bit too much cymbal crashing for me) couch Barrazza’s honeyed, retro vocals across the six songs (one being a second, starker version of the title track). It isn’t perfect, but it’s another step in the right direction.