The Welterweights

The first few seconds of The Dress Rehearsal suggest that The Welterweights are about to break into some punchy alt-pop, when suddenly Nathaniel Williams’ throaty voice and twangy guitar appear, radically rearranging the song’s texture. This quartet plays rock and roll with a country undercurrent, cranking up the volume on the ode to debauchery, “Honeymoon,” and slowing things down for the cleverly bitter “Fast or Famine.” Williams’ character-filled vocals, which bring to mind a lower-pitched and slightly less quirky version of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne’s warble, liven up these tunes immeasurably. His voice seems strained toward the end of “Just Plain Full,” but instead of continuing to test his limits, he starts whistling as the song winds down. Obviously, The Welterweights know how to choose their fights, and on the strength of this EP the band should move up a few notches in its quest to be among the scene’s hardest-hitting champions.