Although now comfortably situated in Brooklyn, the self-described “punky powerpop” trio The Can’t Tells formed in Boston roughly ten years ago, when Mike DiSanto (bass, guitar, vocals), Blaze McKenzie (guitar, bass, vocals), and Jonathan Smith (drums) first shared their plethora of equipment (including “especially-weird microphones”) that was enough “to record a small nation.” Since then, they’ve worked tirelessly to develop a “brash but lyrical, efficient and melodic [sound that’s] a little more Marquee Moon than Pet Sounds.”

Throw in a bit of Scott Miller -esque bluntness and attitude and you have a solid idea of what the trio achieves on their latest effort, the four-track EP1 EP. For instance, lead single “Faulting” is a thunderstorm of retro distortion, aggressive rhythms, and smooth vocals, whereas “Looking” is a softer and sparser ballad whose waltz foundation and melodic shifts reveal a gentler complement to the former’s brash nature. As for the rest, well, you’ll just have to listen for yourself.

The band defines the EP as follows, “EP1 is a collection of misfit songs from a snowed-in recording session deep in the Maine winter. The songs were just too weird and dark to fit in with anything but each other. We wanted it to feel like a mixtape, and the full download includes a set of interstitial pieces to connect each song. While certain lyrical themes carry throughout, the music ranges sonically from some of the quietest and prettiest, to some of the loudest and thorniest moments we’ve ever put to tape.”

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