Ume, Sunshower

This one was somewhat of a surprise. Based on Austin band Ume’s past releases and live show, I went into their new self-titled EP fully expecting to be knocked out of my chair by the sheer sonic force coming out of the speakers. They have a well-deserved reputation of being a heavy-ass band, the kind that rattles your fillings loose live and leaves you with your mouth wide open.

With Sunshower, though, their first release since 2005’s Urgent Sea, the band appears to be more interested in introspection than in shredding the paint. The title of closing track “Pendulum” says it all, really — the songs here tick back and forth, hypnotic and trance-inducing in a clockwatching type of way, particular on the aforementioned track, the beautiful title track, and “The Means,” which incorporates a more sinister feel. Where Urgent Sea was a raw howl of frustration and pent-up rage, Sunshower is a measured, restrained meditation, the band standing and swaying while the instruments keep time and pull them (and you) down into the rabbit hole.

The tiger’s not completely locked in its cage, of course. “East of Hercules” is a nicely brooding, straightforward rock track — more straightforward than I’d expected it would be, actually — with reverb-y guitars and thumping drums cradling singer/bassist Lauren Larson’s half-sensual croon/roar. The song comes off like a sleepy-eyed Distillers, maybe, or one of Courtney Love’s better, more focused, understated songs.

Then there’s “The Conductor,” which also mines some Courtney Love/Brody Dalle influence in its delivery but manages to be both more fiery and more melodic. It’s the highlight of the EP, no question, not to mention one of the best female-voiced rock tracks I’ve heard since Veruca Salt’s Eight Arms to Hold You. While Sunshower may be a new direction for the band, it doesn’t feel so much like a random detour as a secret, beautifully transcendent side road that gets you to the same eventual destination.