Out of the Darkness

The Cave Singers’ first single — if such things can be said to exist anymore — 2007’s “Dancing on Our Graves,” was driven forward by a stomping bass drum and furiously finger-picked riff on a nylon-string guitar. Pete Quirk croons like a jittery preacher at a creepy revival — a vibe picked up by the director of the music video (if we can be said to have those any more), who portrayed the band playing in a roomful of snake-handling holy rollers. It’s a rowdy, if unsettling, good time.

“Leap,” from the Seattle band’s new record, Welcome Joy, starts off with a similar riff. (“It’s almost the exact same riff actually,” says guitarist Derek Fudesco.) This time, though, it’s major instead of minor, lovely instead of creepy. Where “Graves” is a graveyard stomp, “Leap,” is more like a sunny day, exploding into a carefree harmonica hook full of hope and, well, joy — the record’s title seems to be no coincidence.

“We named it that because it suited that collection of songs,” says Fudesco, who writes the band’s songs with Quirk. “It feels very much like a summer record to us, and I guess summer brings to mind happiness.”

Joy isn’t the mopey, non-committal indie rock that Matador Records, the band’s label, is known for. (Pavement springs to mind.) But the Cave Singers have shuffled off that coil. When the band switched from post-punk (they were previously in some of the favorite Seattle bands of name-droppers — Pretty Girls Make Graves, Murder City Devils, Hint Hint) to rootsy, folksy Americana, it wasn’t so much an ideological change as it was an existential one.

Their official bio claims us that the Cave Singers didn’t know much, if anything, about folk music before they started making it, which is, Fudesco gently states, “bullshit” from the label. He and Quirk live together, playing music five nights a week; the band began as a project recorded in their basement. “This is what came out,” Fudesco says. “These are the kind of songs we write.” They later added drummer Marty Lund, whose minimalist playing suits the lightness of their latest batch of songs, and began touring, an undertaking that has been, well, a joy.

“Touring with just three people is the easiest thing ever,” he says. “It’s like vacation all the time. We can, like, stop and go swimming because there’s just three of us.” Sounds like a good way to spend a summer.

Cave Singers at Empyrean with Karli Fairbanks and Kaylee Cole on Friday, July 24, at 7 pm. Price TBA. All-ages. Call 838-9819.