Kevin Bronson on September 16th, 2010

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Funny thing happened some time after Silver Lake faves Mezzanine Owls went on (what now looks like permanent) hiatus in late 2008: Frontman Jack Burnside was asked to play a show opening for Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin. “I thought he was playing solo,” Burnside says, “but when I learned he had a band, I thought I should probably get one too.”

Poof. Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits were born, with bassist Jenni Tarma (Kylie Minogue, Junior Senior, Har Mar Superstar, Eskimohunter), multi-instrumentalist/producer Dan Horne (the Lilys, Mezzanine Owls, among others) and guitarist Chris Newcomer (Polls).

• ||| Download: “Right Ones”

On the quartet’s debut EP, Burnside backs off a bit from the popgazing found on the MezzOwls’ “Slingshot Echoes” but still sketches his emotional wrestling matches on a canvas of beautifully noisy guitar. The results are plaintive, often poetic, ruminations about coping in a viscous world.

“I guess you could interpret [the songs] as about who you are once your context changes,” Burnside says. “There are lines about walls melting away, about conveyor streets, a floor turning into ice, a house swallowing you … How much does [context] inform who we are? I hope that people will hear these songs and hear them say something about them.”

||| Live: Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits celebrate their release Sept. 24 at the Echo, and also play Oct. 19 at Origami Vinyl.

||| Also: Stream the whole EP at their Bandcamp page.