Electric Pink.

Electric Pink

* The Promise Ring * Jade Tree 

There's an old saying in showbiz that advises performers to always leave their audience begging for more. We don't know if Future Bible Heroes or the Promise Ring had that adage in mind when they were polishing their latest gems--I'm Lonely and Electric Pink, respectively--but with both CDs clocking in at under 20 minutes, the immediate reaction at the end of each disc's all-too-brief spin is "More!"

Future Bible Heroes is the latest release from Stephin Merritt, best known as the brains behind Magnetic Fields. For this side project Merritt and longtime collaborator (and fellow out musician) Claudia Gonson have tweaked the electric folk-pop Of Magnetic Fields, putting that band's acoustic leanings on the back burner and pumping up the beats per minute. The result is a five-song EP that's a time-traveling ticket back to the best techno-pop club music the '80s had to offer. With its swirling synthesizers and staccato electronic drum beats, the title track, "I'm Lonely," would have mixed perfectly into Dead or Alive's mid-'80s hit "You Spin Me Round." Typically, Merritt's baritone is capable of inducing swoons, even when delivering lines like "Going off my diet with a double chocolate cone."

Future Bible Heroes gives another '80s classic a run for its money with "Good Thing I Don't Have Any Feelings." That song's moody melody could have replaced Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" on The Breakfast Club sound track, while "Hopeless," one of Gonson's two star turns on the EP, takes the best of Thompson Twins- and Culture Club-like melodies and mixes in the beat-heavy drum-machine stylings of New Order and Depeche Mode. By the end of the song, Future Bible Heroes will have you reminiscing about Desperately Seeking Susan and kicking yourself for throwing out that black mesh tank top and those black rubber bangles.

With Future Bible Heroes the best advice is, Repeat as necessary. If that doesn't help, follow the sponge cake recipe that's included in the liner notes.

Milwaukee's the Promise Ring practically rivals the famously prolific Merritt and Gonson when it comes to productivity. Rather than rest on the heaps of praise garnered from the release of last year's Very Emergency CD, not to mention the positive media attention generated by guitarist Jason Gnewikow's coming-out, these indie rock heroes knocked out this four-song EP to keep rabid fans satiated until the band's next full-length is released.

The title track, "Electric Pink," starts things off with singer Davey von Bohlen's everyman delivery never sounding better. "Strictly Television" and "Make Me a Mix Tape" provide the punk-pop intensity that fans have come to expect from Von Bohlen, Gnewikow, and the rest of the boys. And for the uninitiated, the EP rings with enough melodic accessibility to instantly win the Promise Ring an even wider audience.

Fans who've watched the band grow from sensitive and earnest "emo-punks" into more sophisticated songsmiths will probably rank the EP as one of the band's most mature releases. The Promise Ring's mix of hummable melodies and crashing guitars gets more infectious with each release, and while EPs are usually an attempt to maintain interest or generate sales, Electric Pink shows a band continuing to evolve and sharpen its skills.

Gdula is a freelance writer who has written for The Washington Post.