Every now and then I come across a band that completely sweeps me off my feet. You know that scene in High Fidelity in which John Cusack says, “I will now sell 5 copies of The 3 EPs by the Beta Band”?

No?

It’s right here:

(seriously, I love YouTube.)

I admit to being a lot like that “it’s good” guy — except a little more manic. I’m the person who could hear a snippet of something and then rush to the counter to purchase the album (and yes, I did go out and buy The 3 EPs shortly after seeing this movie. “Dry the Rain”? Amazing song. Give a listen here). Some music I need the time to get to know; some music I just know I love from the first note.

iTunes has made getting swept away by bands a hell of a lot more convenient, of course, dangerously so. Because I’m on the computer all damn day, often well into the night, and I am impulsive, and if I’m not physically going into my wallet to pull out the cash it doesn’t quite feel like I’m spending anything. I’ve purchased and downloaded six full albums this week — less than some people, perhaps, but far more than I have ever done in the past. I may also be making up for lost time, including the months my Mac was broken and I couldn’t access iTunes at all and my old playlists were really getting on my nerves because I’d lived with them for too long.

All this is to say: thanks to the nature of my work, I came across a band that’s actually been around for a while, but hasn’t broken through the American music scene quite yet. Or maybe they have and I’m just that uncool. Either scenario is plausible, and it really doesn’t matter, because I know them now.

The Wave Pictures. Instant Coffee Baby.

I’ve poked around the internet and found several reviews, and they all make the same comparisons: Violent Femmes, Jonathan Richman, The Smiths. And that’s all true, but mercifully The Wave Pictures blend those familiar (and beloved, if you’re me) sounds into their own — they don’t sound derivative. It feels fresh, and fun, and nearly every song makes me smile even if the lyrics are depressing (there’s that Smiths influence).

This one just might be my favorite:

There’s also “Kiss Me,” which according to frontman David Tattersall is based on a true story: “a girl that I liked at school wrote me a letter on pink paper, but all about her love for John Lennon and not me. It pissed me off a bit at the time.” (Read more of his notes on each track from this CD at the The Line of Best Fit.) After declaring his hatred of John Lennon, then, Tattersall goes on to sing, “And now you’ve garbaged my copy of Pet Sounds/I think you’ve taken everything from me I have to give.” Accompanied by the ukelele. Irresistable.

I sorta wish I’d found out about them back in May or June — this album strikes me as the perfect summer soundtrack — light and happy. They also nail three of the four primary criteria I have for music (this is a post all its own that I’ve never gotten my act together enough to write):

1. Jangly guitars

2. Clever lyrics

3. Handclaps (man, am I a sucker for the handclaps. A song can have nothing else going for it, but if there are handclaps, I’m sold)

. . . the fourth is Brian Wilsonesque harmonies. Harmonies exist here, but not in that sort of wall-of-sound way. Maybe I can give Wave Pictures 3.5 out of 4, then.

Simply charming.

And if nothing else I’ve said intrigues you, maybe this might.

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