"When it gets too much, sometimes I think too much, but you told me to think about that later," Linda Moody sings on "Kirrie," the first and most instantly likable track on Excuses for Skipping's five-song demo. It sounds like she's followed that advice around for a while – you can feel the magnetic pull in a long-gone relationship that's still dragging the singer off-center years down the line. A haunted-sounding guitar trails along behind her vocals, and its moody romanticism makes me think of Versus circa Stars Are Insane as well as the light-and-dark harmonies of the Butchies.

Moody and Tammy Fortin – who trade off on vocals, keyboards, and bass – are former members of Blue Gum Art, joined here by Chip Dalby on drums. Excuses for Skipping carries forward that band's penchant for pretty pop harmonies and catchy guitar lines, with considerably less emphasis on the folk rock. You could dance to some of these songs. Or you could just mull over the past: many tracks suggest nights spent bingeing on old high school diaries, offering consolation for the shy, nostalgic, heartachy set. Excuses for Skipping perform at the Rock and Roll Spelling Bee (in which this writer is a contestant) Wed/22, El Rio, S.F. (415) 282-3325. (Lynn Rapoport)

Slow Poisoners
Days of the Soft Break (Heyday)

The wry, literate, multi-instrumentalist polymaths of the Slow Poisoners have turned in a pleasing bit of pop song craft with their latest disc, Days of the Soft Break. It's a dense but breezy piece of work, full of delightful and carefully wrought details. Bracing harmonies? Yep. Big, sweeping pop hooks? For sure. Masterful horn-section arrangements? Si. Really excellent Mellotron samples? Dude, right on!

Stylistically, this record is all over the map, though it mostly eschews the louder, scarier, weirder side of the tracks, instead picking apart pop clichés with earnest, winking, and occasionally perverse abandon. Twenty minutes alone in a room with a stereo and this platter will bring you flavorful psychedelia ("Strange Things Happening"), swingin' action music ("Tomorrow Man"), certifiable smash-hit pop ("Days of the Soft Break"), and sincere indie rock ("The God that Failed"). All this plus interesting chords, ace musicianship, and a grab bag of instrumental treats – big piano, hot guitar solos, even a harpsichord.